


The Girl Touched by Time

by PrincessAmonRae



Series: Prolonged Promises [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 85,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessAmonRae/pseuds/PrincessAmonRae
Summary: "I don’t know why, but I do know that I couldn’t imagine travelling without you. So, you and I will have a great many adventures. And that is a promise Emma," The Doctor finished.Emma is six the first time she meets the Doctor and twenty six the first time the Doctor meets her and sweeps her off in the TARDIS. Along the way is friendship, adventure, healing, sarcasm and love.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Prolonged Promises [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1725745
Comments: 46
Kudos: 121





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Well there we go!  
> So, in case any of you missed it, this is in fact an Alternate Universe with the Tenth Doctor and an OC companion. This takes place during the specials, but Emma will only appear in three of the canon episodes. Every other adventure has been designed by me, using both canon and made up monsters/villains. Also, be prepared for the fact that the Doctor and Emma will be falling in love, but not for a good long while. This is going to be a really slow burn.  
> Also, I thought that everyone might be interested to know that I’m going to be updating this weekly, so you can expect the next chapter next week. Hope to see you then!!
> 
> Also also, this story can be spread around on Tumblr [princessamonraewrites](https://princessamonraewrites.tumblr.com/). I'm going to call it Internet Networking lol.

I swung my feet back and forth while I coloured at the table, looking up to smile at my mom. She smiled back at me before she winked and slid a cookie to me. 

“Thank you,” I said before I took a big bite. 

“You’re welcome Emma,” Mom replied. 

“I thought we agreed that she wasn’t allowed to have sweets.” Dad said from the kitchen and Mom frowned. I swallowed quickly and took another big bite because if I ate it then they couldn’t take it away. Dad sounded mad and Mom was frowning, and that combination was never good. 

“It’s a cookie. Under no definition is a cookie defined as a sweet,” Mom stated as she ran a hand over my head. Her hand was a little shaky like it always got when she was trying not to yell back. 

“Oh, so that’s going to be how we do this now, is it? By making rules with loopholes built-in?!” Dad started waving his arms around as he talked and Mom frowned harder before she stood up, left the table and headed into the kitchen. I knew that this wasn’t going to go very well so I waited a few seconds before I wrote them a note and slipped out the door. I ran to my special place in the park at the end of my street, a small group of trees that made a small circle. It was far enough away from my house to not hear the shouting, but still close enough that Mom and Dad could find me. 

Today was different because just as I reached my place I heard a strange groaning noise and saw a blue box appear out of thin air. A man in a suit poked his head out the door. His hair was very spiky, like a pineapple. I thought it was cool. 

"Excuse me sir," I piped up and he turned his head to look at me. He looked as if he'd been crying, but I decided it would probably be rude to ask. 

"Yes?" He asked as he straightened his suit. It was all wrinkly and made me wonder about what was inside the box. 

"Is your box supposed to make that noise?" I asked and the man made a strange noise, almost like a laugh, but as if he choked in the process. His gaze shifted to my dress. 

"What on Earth are you wearing?" I sighed as he changed the subject. It wasn't fair that grown-ups could do that. I glared down at my pink puffy dress. 

"My Mom made me," I replied and crossed my arms over my chest. I still wasn't happy about that. I didn’t like pink. Or puffiness. Or dresses. 

"Why?" He asked in confusion. It suddenly dawned on me that I was talking to a stranger and I wasn't allowed to do that. But I didn’t want to stop talking to this strange man who had appeared out of thin air. 

"My name's Emma Bradley," I blurted out and the man gave me a weird look. 

"What!?" He replied while he frowned at me. 

"You have to tell me your name now," I stated. 

"What!?" He repeated, looking more confused now. 

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers. But you’re weird and I like weird, so if we introduce ourselves we won't be strangers. Grownups do it all the time," I explained and he laughed. 

"I'm the Doctor. Just call me Doctor. Nice to meet you Emma Bradley," He introduced himself and was even nice enough to shake my hand like a grown up would. 

"I'm wearing this dress because it's my sixth birthday and Mom thinks that means I need to start dressing like a little lady," The Doctor hit himself on the forehead and dashed back inside his box. Before I could call after him he reappeared with a picnic basket hanging off his arm. He spread out a blanket on the ground and helped me to sit down. 

"Do you always keep a picnic ready to go in your box?" I asked curiously as he handed me a peanut butter and honey sandwich, which just happened to be my favourite. 

"Not always. And my box is called the TARDIS. It's a time and space machine," He answered and I gasped in excitement. 

"Really!? Can you go anywhere!?" The Doctor laughed at my enthusiasm and nodded. 

"Anywhere, anytime. Now I believe I owe you a story," The Doctor announced and I looked at him in confusion. 

"You do?" I asked. He winced before he leaned forward, placing his finger on his lips. I leaned towards him as well. 

"I'm from the future. Your future," He whispered, grinning when I gasped in delight, before he continued. "And you made me promise to tell you a story when the time came." 

“I did? But how will I know when to tell you the story about telling you a story?” I asked. 

“You’ll know,” the Doctor replied as he smiled softly, like Mom and Dad did sometimes when they knew something I didn’t. 

“Now are you ready for your story?” He asked and I nodded enthusiastically before I took a very big bite of my sandwich so that I wouldn't be tempted to ask him more questions and gave him big smile. He smiled and smoothed down my hair before he leaned back on his hands and began telling me about a girl named Rose Tyler and how she, the Doctor and a woman named Harriet Jones saved the world from a race of aliens called the Slitheen by blowing up Downing Street. As the Doctor finished his story he looked sad, like Mom when we talked about Grandma. 

"What happened to Rose?" I asked gently as I placed my hand on top of his. The corner of the Doctor's lips quirked up in surprise. 

"You seem very grown up for a six-year-old," He changed the subject and I frowned. It really wasn't fair that grownups could do that. But since Mom wasn't here maybe I could get away with doing the same. 

"Can I come with you? I’m very small, so I can fit in the TARDIS," I blurted out and the Doctor laughed. I waited for a moment because I wasn't sure why he was laughing. It wasn't the kind of laugh adults did before they said 'maybe when you're older' but it wasn't quite a 'yes' either. 

"Not yet. But one day," He paused and pulled out his pocket watch and glancing at it before he jumped up suddenly. "Anyways, you should probably be getting back to your birthday party." The Doctor lifted me up off the blanket and spun me around before he set me on my feet. He quickly packed up the picnic and was about to dash into the TARDIS when a thought occurred to me. 

"Do you promise!?" My words made him pause and he stepped out of the TARDIS fully. I took a deep breath before I continued. "Adults always make promises that they don't keep," I finished and the Doctor smiled before kneeling in front of me. 

"Well, Emma Bradley, you forgot that I'm from the future. You and I meet again on your twenty-sixth birthday." I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest again. 

"But that's so far away!" I protested. "Will you even remember me?" The Doctor laughed again. 

"That's the funny thing about time travel, next time you see me I won't have any idea who you are.” At this he took my hand and drew a funny little circle on my palm with his finger. I scrunched up my nose because it tickled slightly. 

“Why don’t you know me?” I questioned and the Doctor looked up at the sky and sighed slightly. 

“Wibbly wobbly timey wimey,” He replied. 

“If you don’t know me why do you let me travel with you?” I asked, because Mom and Dad always said to never go anywhere with someone you don’t know. 

"I don’t know why, but I do know that I couldn’t imagine travelling without you. So, you and I will have a great many adventures. And that is a promise Emma," The Doctor finished, and I threw my arms around him in thanks. He made another funny little noise as he patted my back gently. When I let go he stood up and headed back to his TARDIS. 

“How do you fit in your TARDIS?” I asked after I realized how small the box actually was. He gave me a big smile and winked at me over his shoulder before he turned all the way around. 

“It’s bigger on the inside,” He answered. I scrunched up my nose because that didn’t make sense, but decided not to ask him about it. 

"Okay then. See you later!" I shouted and waved at him. He waved back. 

"It will be a great pleasure to meet you!" He closed the door and the strange noise followed behind me as I ran home. I stopped on the porch to look back towards the park. I was going to wave again, but my Mom came out before I could. 

"Oh, there you are! What have you been up to?" Mom asked as she gave me a hug. Mom and Dad must have figured out what they were shouting about. Or had ‘put a pin in it for now’ as Dad said sometimes. 

"I met the Doctor. He has a box that goes through space and time and he promised that we'd meet again on my twenty-sixth birthday and then we’re going to have adventures," I answered. Mom laughed and smoothed down my hair before she hugged me. 

"You certainly do have an impressive imagination," Mom replied as she led me into the house. I sighed dejectedly. I knew they weren't going to believe me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there we go!  
> So, in case any of you missed it, this is in fact an Alternate Universe with the Tenth Doctor and an OC companion. This takes place during the specials, but Emma will only appear in three of the canon episodes. Every other adventure has been designed by me, using both canon and made up monsters/villains. Also, be prepared for the fact that the Doctor and Emma will be falling in love, but not for a good long while. This is going to be a really slow burn.  
> Also, I thought that everyone might be interested to know that I’m going to be updating this weekly, so you can expect the next chapter next week. Hope to see you then!!
> 
> Furthermore, this fic can be shared on Tumblr (https://www.tumblr.com/blog/princessamonraewrites). I'm going to call that Internet Networking!


	2. Chapter 1

"Do you think the Doctor will look the same?" Lillian asked as we walked through the mall. Lillian was the only friend I had ever told about the Doctor and she’d accepted it as true without another word. I loved her dearly for it. She was also basically my only friend, which I also loved her for. 

"I think so. He was from the future when I met him." I replied and winced slightly as another person with an insanely long neck walked past us. I rubbed my own neck in sympathy. 

“Am I missing a huge fashion trend?” I questioned, glancing at Lillian. She was always on top of these things more frequently than I was. Lillian followed my line of sight and shrugged. 

“If you are I’m missing it too. Not that I’d follow it.” Lillian replied and shuddered largely, making me laugh. She freaked out if I cracked my knuckles when she was in the room, so there was no way she’d stretch her neck. I frowned as someone walked past us again and stopped dead when I realized they were all going the same direction. 

“What?” Lillian asked. I whirled around and saw that they had all congregated together. 

“They’re all going the same direction,” I answered without taking my eyes off them. Lillian shot me the exasperated look she always did when I wasn’t answering her questions fully. 

“So?” She prodded while attempting to steer me out of the way of the other shoppers. I dug my heels in so that I wouldn’t lose my line of sight on them. 

“So, what are the odds of that? Let’s follow them,” I announced and grabbed Lillian’s hand and dragged her along behind me. This time Lillian dug her heels in and I twisted my head so that I could send her a look. 

“No way,” She stated. I sent her another look and Lillian shook her head while attempting to get me to let go of her hand. 

“Oh, come on Lillian! I need back up,” I replied and that just made her shake her head harder. 

“The last time you said those words you nearly died!” 

“I did not nearly die,” I retorted and rolled my eyes at her before tugging on her hand. “Besides, the Investigative Incident of 2004 only resulted in me getting a concussion.” 

“A major concussion,” she inserted as she tugged on my hand in return. 

“You say that like I have no sense of self preservation.” 

“You also promised that you wouldn’t do anymore investigating after the Investigative Incident of 2004!” She said. I sent her a look over my shoulder. 

“It’s not investigating. It’s just following.” 

“Funny I’m pretty sure you said that before the Investigative Incident of 2004.” I rolled my eyes at her again and decided to ignore her. 

“Excuse me sir, could you talk some sense into my friend here?” Lilian’s voice drifted over, and I rolled my eyes. 

“Really Lillian? You’re going to stoop so low as to drag in innocent bystanders?” I asked teasingly as I turned around. I dropped her hand in shock and tried very hard to not verbalise my surprise as I took in the Doctor, who had a look on his face like he was trying hard not to laugh. Lillian took in the astounded look on my face and nudged me. 

“It’s the Doctor,” I hissed under my breath to her before I smiled reassuringly at him. He was wearing the same brown with blue pinstripe suit he had been before, but this time he had a brown trench coat over top. Even his hair still looked like a pineapple. 

“Honestly I don’t need sense talked into me. Lillian is just being paranoid,” I replied while trying to rein in the urge to reach out and make sure that he was actually real. 

“You were in the hospital for two days! That’s not paranoia,” Lillian fired back, and the Doctor’s eyebrows went up. I had to admit that probably sounded weird out of context. 

“Long story,” I said before I sent a glance towards the long-necked people I had been trying to follow. They all headed for one of the stores. 

“How about this? You go home, and I’ll follow them so that you have plausible deniability with Mom and Dad. I’ll call you if I need back up,” I offered quickly because I didn’t want to lose track of them in the store. She nibbled on her bottom lip before nodding. 

“I’ll prep the bail money. I have no doubt that this one is going to end up with you in police custody somehow.” I rolled my eyes at her not so subtle reference to the Doctor’s police box but smiled and hugged her. I knew she was just as happy about this as I was. I glanced at the Doctor and gave him another smile. 

“Sorry you got dragged into this,” I said before heading off towards the store. I took a few deep breaths so that I wouldn’t try to drag the Doctor along with me. He’d promised me a great many adventures and I had to trust that my patience would win out. I’d waited this long, what was a couple more minutes. Also, I didn’t want to look any weirder than I probably already did. 

“What were you and your friend arguing about anyways?” the Doctor asked as he caught up with me and I had to hold in the urge to squeal with happiness. 

“There was this group of people who had really long necks and I thought it was suspicious, so I wanted to follow them, but Lillian didn’t. Our last following job sort of ended with police involvement and hospitalization,” I explained, and the Doctor frowned when I mentioned the people with long necks. 

“Where’d they go?” He asked, and I pointed at the store we were about to enter. I counted them quickly when we entered, and the Doctor carefully put his hand on my waist to steer me to some of the racks so that we weren’t in their directly line of sight. He had a slightly worried look on his face and I glanced up at him. 

“What?” I asked. He blinked down at me and I gestured to the group of twenty some long necked people while making look like I was flipping through the clothes. 

“I think they’re aliens,” He replied. I glanced at them again. 

“Cool. Lillian’s never going to let me out of the house ever again,” I muttered offhandedly, and the Doctor laughed. 

“Are you certain that this is key to the plan? I don’t have much faith in this planet if they didn’t even detect us,” One of the men stated and brushed off his coat. One of the women nodded. 

“We need carbon and this planet has an abundance,” She said, and I looked at the Doctor and jerked my head at a rack of clothes that were closer to the group of people. He nodded, and we moved closer. 

“The only thing that remains uncertain is how to lure it into place?” One of the other men said. I frowned and turned to the Doctor. 

“Did he just say lure?” I clarified and realized my mistake when all the long-necked aliens turned towards us. I’d said that just a tad too loud apparently. 

“Crap. I’ve really done it now,” I muttered at the same time the aliens shouted, “Get them!” 

“Run!” The Doctor grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the rack, just as one of the aliens swiped at me. Unfortunately, they were in between us and the main entrance, so we ran for the back room. I crossed the fingers of my free hand, hoping that we wouldn’t just end up in a stock room with no other way out. Thankfully, instead we found ourselves in a rather spacious hallway which gave us a bit of a head start. 

“We need to hide,” The Doctor announced, and I nodded, spotting a supply room with a door that had been left slightly ajar. 

“There,” I suggested. He dropped my hand and pulled out a weird stick thingy while I yanked hard on the door. I sucked in a deep breath of relief when I saw it was unoccupied and stepped inside, feeling an odd swooping feeling in my stomach that I promptly ignored since I began slipping on something on the floor. I flailed wildly for something to steady myself with and grasped a large barrel. Instead of steadying me it came down with me and dumped all the oil it had been holding on top of me. I hit the concrete floor with a slippery thud and, of course, managed to hit my head on the way down. 

“Are you alright?” The Doctor cried in concern after he turned away from the door. I sat up slightly and pushed the barrel off me. 

“Well that may have been the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done, and I’m covered in some kind of oil. Other than that, I’m fine,” I replied in a chipper manner, clambering up slowly so that I didn’t slip again. 

“I saw you hit your head,” The Doctor stated, frowning and he stepped closer towards me. He reached up to the back of my head and began massaging my scalp, probably looking for a lump. 

“My name’s Emma Bradley,” I informed him as my eyes widened and I blushed when I realized that he was running his fingers all over my head and he had no idea who I was. The Doctor smiled at me and stepped back from me a bit. 

“Well Emma Bradley, you don’t have a bump. I’m the Doctor, nice to meet you,” He gave me a goofy grin before he leaned closer to me and looked at the oil. He made a noise and squatted down on the floor before swiping his finger through a puddle of the oil. I swung my gaze around the room and winced at how much I had spilled. When I glanced back at the Doctor he was smelling the oil on his finger and before I could say anything he licked it. 

“Gross! Do you have any idea what could have been on this floor?” I cried before I could stop myself. The Doctor gave me a slightly grim grin in return as he bounced up off the floor. 

“We’ve got bigger problems,” The Doctor replied and despite how serious he looked I couldn’t resist needling him a little first. 

“You may as well have just licked it off the floor,” I teased before I tipped my head to the side and crossed my arms over my chest. 

“What’s our problem?” I asked. 

“I know who the aliens are,” The Doctor announced, and I waited a few moments to see if he’d complete that thought, but he turned back towards the door. 

“And judging from the look on your face, I’m guessing that they aren’t benevolent,” I prompted, suddenly feeling a wave of sympathy for Lillian. I suddenly understood why the fact that I never finished my thoughts bothered her so much. The Doctor shook his head in answer to my question. 

“They’ve been on Earth twice before and they were given the name ‘Devil’s Huntsman’ the second time I saw them here,” The Doctor had pulled out his weird stick thing which he was now pointing at the oil. It made a weird buzzing noise. 

“Awesome,” I replied dryly before continuing, “What’s their actual name?” 

“Krillitanes,” The Doctor answered, darkly as he tucked his stick thing away.


	3. Chapter 2

“How can you tell they’re Krillitanes from this oil?” I asked and attempted to wipe some off my arms and hair. I was trying hard not to think about how sticky I was going to be when it started drying. 

“I’ve met them before,” The Doctor replied vaguely was he vaulted off the floor and started pacing around and running his hands through his hair. I stepped in front of him so that he would stop. People who paced around made me nervous because it reminded me of my Dad. 

“So you implied. But that doesn’t really answer my question,” I replied and sniffed my hair to see if it had a distinctive smell, but thank heavens, it didn’t. 

“The Krillitanes are a race that steals physical bits from other races that they conquer. They’ve done that so much that the oil that they exude has become toxic to them. Actually, the last time I saw them they looked in between what they do now and the giant bats from the time before that. I wonder if they’ve developed the ability to time travel or if I just keep meeting them in the wrong order.” He paused to think about that one and I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“I imagine that happens a lot,” I said dryly and placed my hand on his shoulder when it looked like he was about to go off on another tangent. 

“On a scale of one to ten how much of a problem do we have?” I asked. 

“Eight and a half,” He replied and ran his hands through his hair again. 

“Okay, it could be worse. We just need to figure out their plan and stop it,” I stated calmly. The Doctor gave me a confused look. I sent him a look in return. 

“You seem to be handling this well,” He said and I shrugged. I’d decided a long time ago that the Doctor was probably an alien, the time and space box that was bigger on the inside only made sense if he wasn’t human. 

“Carbon. They said they needed Carbon,” I prompted to get the Doctor back on track, which I was beginning to think would be an adventure in itself. He stared at me for a few minutes before his eyes widened and his mouth opened. 

“Carbon! Of course!” He cried and darted towards the door before he started down the hallway. I followed along behind him, crinkling my nose up at the squelching noise my shoes were making. When I caught up with him he started babbling. 

“Carbon must be one of the main ingredients of their rocket fuel! I bet they crashed and need to get home! Have there been any falling stars in the area recently?” The Doctor asked and I shrugged. I spent most of my time doing research for the historical magazine I wrote for so I missed a lot of current events. It was something Lillian teased me for mercilessly. 

“I thought you said the Krillitanes conquered civilizations?” I clarified because if what the Doctor said was true then they should have been trying to take us over. 

“Humans don’t have any physical or technological advances that appeal to them,” The Doctor replied before he stopped dead and moved towards a door. 

“On behalf of humanity, I’m offended. What’s so special about this door?” I tried to smear off some more of the oil while the Doctor pulled out his stick thing and pointed it at the door. 

“Look at it again,” he suggested so I did. It had a bright yellow sign on it that said ‘Employees only’ which made me frown because we were already in the back where there would only be employees. It didn’t make sense, but at the same time I’d disregarded it because I was so used to seeing them in all sorts of places. 

“Weird,” I stated before the Doctor took a couple steps back from the door and guided me back a few more. I glanced up at him as he placed his arm in front of me protectively. 

“The door’s locked, but not with any Earth technology,” He added the last bit quickly and a tad defensively. He must have seen the fact that I’d been in the midst of raising my eyebrow up at him. I made a go on gesture. 

“Fortunately, it’s not deadlock sealed but I’m still not taking any chances,” The Doctor finished. 

“I’m going to assume that a deadlock seal is a snazzy technological deadbolt. What’s that?” I asked as the Doctor aimed his stick at the lock. He lowered it and twisted slightly so that he could give me a weird look. 

“Did you just say snazzy?” He asked incredulously. I batted my eyelashes at him innocently while I nodded and pointed at his stick again. 

“It’s my sonic screwdriver,” He answered and pointed it at the lock again. The buzzing noise started and sparks flew out of the lock. The Doctor held the door open for me, awarding me with a bright smile when I fake curtsied. 

“What does your sonic screwdriver do?” I asked. The Doctor hesitated as he thought about it for a moment. 

“It doesn’t do wood,” He stated finally. I shook my head and rolled my eyes slightly, making a mental note to ask about the full extent of the sonic screwdriver’s abilities at more convenient time. 

The room we’d entered looked like we’d walked into a smaller version of a mad scientist’s lab. It had computers and random mechanical parts strewn everywhere. Since I knew I wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of the mechanical parts, I headed straight for the computers. I tapped on the keyboard while the Doctor flung a few of the parts around the room. 

“Typical,” I murmured under my breath when an alien language popped up on the screen. I spun around in my chair and flicked some more oil off me. I looked down at my arm and burst out laughing as the realization washed over me. My abrupt laughter made the Doctor jump and he hit his head on one of the parts that was hanging from the ceiling which only made me laugh harder. 

“Sorry,” I managed to get out after I’d gotten a bit of a hold of myself. The Doctor approached me cautiously, looking vaguely horrified. I doubled over laughing again. 

“I just realized that I’m essentially covered in alien sweat,” I continued and the corner of the Doctor’s lips twitched as I started laughing again. My laughter died when a fire started in the Doctor’s eyes as his hand shot out and snagged a part off the table. 

“How’d they get their hands on this!? What debris exists should be locked in the Medusa Cascade!” The Doctor gave my chair a firm push to slid me out of the way of the computer. He waved his sonic at the screen and hit it on the head when it refused to cooperate. The writing on the screen switched to English. 

“What are you planning!?” The Doctor hissed as he scanned the screen. I didn’t know if it would be useful but I pushed the mouse closer to him. I reached for the part to see if I could figure out what had made the Doctor so angry. The Doctor yanked my hand away at the last second so I took a deep breath to swallow the irrational hurt I was feeling and rested my hand on the Doctor’s arm. 

“Doctor I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong,” I pointed out softly and squeezed his arm supportively. His eyes may have been full of fire, but I could see that the fire was the kind that you got when you’d lost too many people. He slumped in his chair slightly, as if some of the fire covering his pain had lessened slightly. 

“It’s a piece of the Reality Bomb,” He gestured towards the part. I placed my other hand next to the one that was already resting on his arm. He rubbed his free hand over his face before he continued, “That’s what the Dalek’s were using the twenty-seven planets for.” 

A shudder passed over me before I could stop it. Fortunately, when that invasion had happened Lillian and I had been visiting her parents out in the country and we were miles away from a major population center, but there had still been a few Daleks there. 

“What does it do?” I wasn’t sure I wanted to know but if I had the Doctor talking and the part probably figured into the Krillitane’s plans somehow, then I could handle myself if it meant he could get a few ideas. 

“Matter will turn into dust and that dust into atoms and those atoms into nothing.” Goosebumps went straight up my arms and a chill went down my spine at the Doctor’s tone. I could tell he was quoting someone, most likely whomever had built the Reality Bomb, but the cold, dead way he said it was freaking me out. I swallowed, took a deep breath and squeezed his arm again. 

“The Krillitanes said they needed carbon. Could they use this to get it out of the Earth’s atmosphere or the ground maybe?” I asked and felt a little bit of relief that the Doctor shook his head. 

“No, this part doesn’t have the finesse for that. I think this was for the smaller prototype version that the Daleks were using for their tests.” The relief I’d felt earlier faded when the Doctor’s eyes widened and he shot upright in his chair. I removed my hands from his arm as he started typing madly on the computer and blueprints flashed on the screen. I glanced sideways at the Doctor to see if he’d translate them for me. 

“The Daleks did all the testing of their Reality Bomb prototype on humans. The Krillitane’s have altered the design slightly. It erases everything but carbon.” The Doctor still hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen. As I put the pieces together in my head I reached for the Doctor again to make myself feel better. He grabbed my hand in return and intertwined his fingers with mine. I gave him a small thankful smile and squeezed his hand gently. 

“I guess that’s what they meant when they said lure,” I stated glumly. The Doctor clenched his jaw in anger but his eyes looked watery. It was like he couldn’t decide whether he was angry or sad. 

“How much carbon do they need?” I asked softly, and the Doctor pointed to a number at the bottom of the blueprint. It was just under a thousand. 

“How much of the human body is carbon?” My voice was even weaker than last time. The Doctor closed his eyes. 

“Eighteen percent,” He answered and squeezed my hand with his. I swallowed and forced myself not to do the math. I knew that if I did I’d never get the numbers out of my head. 

“We have to stop them. But the Krillitanes still need a way to get home. If we’re too primitive for them then they aren’t welcome.” The Doctor looked impressed by my statement, but I couldn’t see any other way to look at it. Also, I had to be the better person. The world would be a much better place if everyone didn’t believe so firmly in the whole ‘an eye for an eye’ thing. I turned fully towards the Doctor. 

“You wouldn’t happen to have a plan?” I questioned hopefully and a slow grin spread across the Doctor’s face. I decided to take that as a yes.


	4. Chapter 3

“I didn’t think you were the type,” I said under my breath as I crept behind the Doctor while he used his sonic screwdriver to remove screws that he thought looked important on the Krillitane’s machine. I had been given the very important job of keeping watch and pocketing the screws. I had only rolled my eyes very slightly at the honour before I had conceded the fact that he would have a much better chance of actually doing damage. He sent me an odd look over his shoulder. 

“For the sneaky peeky subtle stuff,” I expanded and the Doctor’s face grew more confused. 

“Snazzy? Sneaky peeky? Who taught you to speak?” He asked with a mild bit of horror on his face. I barely reigned in the urge to snort and roll my eyes since this was coming from the man who’d said ‘Wibbly wobbly timey wimey’ to explain why he wouldn’t know who I was. 

“Mom,” I answered. 

“Is this how my companions feel all the time?” He muttered under his breath as he handed me another screw. 

“Confused by your non answers and technobabble? Because if so the answer to that question is yes.” I wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical or not, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. The Doctor fired another look at me over his shoulder before creeping towards his next target. 

“Why were you following the Krillitanes?” The Doctor asked after a few moments of silence. 

“They looked suspicious,” I shrugged. 

“And if they’d caught you?” I had to admit I was touched by the concern in his tone, especially since he’d only just met me less than an hour ago. 

“Well I probably would’ve become part of their carbon sacrifice. Which I’ll admit would’ve made for a pretty crappy birthday,” I joked and the Doctor actually stopped his unscrewing to turn around and look at me properly. 

“It’s your birthday?” He clarified and I nodded. 

“Twenty six.” The magic number that’d I’d been waiting for. The Doctor’s face split into the first real smile I’d seen. 

“Happy Birthday Emma Bradley.” I smiled back at him as I accepted another screw from him. 

“And what were you doing here?” I asked in an attempt to get the topic of conversation away from me. I was starting to get a little self-conscious. 

“Just travelling. I set the TARDIS on random which I hadn’t done in a while,” he shrugged while handing me another screw. I faked a confused look. 

“TARDIS?” I asked as if I had never heard of it before. Lillian and I had been practicing this for months until I sounded convincing. 

“It’s my ship. Time and relative dimensions in space,” he explained. 

“Okay I understood time and space so does it do both?” Lillian and I had practiced this question as well, though Lillian said it was slightly less successful. The Doctor must have bought my ignorance though because he simply nodded. 

“So are you travelling with anyone else?” I questioned softly, thinking of Rose and how sad he’d looked. I still wasn’t sure when she went to the parallel universe so for all I knew they were still travelling together or he’d just lost her. 

“No. No one else,” He released a long, sad sigh at this before continuing. “It’s better that way.” 

“I’m not convinced you actually mean that,” I murmured so that I wouldn’t roll my eyes and call him a liar. The Doctor sent me another look over his shoulder, but this time I couldn’t place what the look meant. 

“What makes you think that?” I gave him a soft smile. 

“Because you sounded so terribly lonely,” I stated and the Doctor sighed again, though less sadly. 

“Better for the companions then,” he amended before falling silent and staring ahead glumly. 

“Why do I get the feeling that prying any real answers out of you is going to be really hard?” I muttered to myself and he laughed softly. 

“Being mysterious is part of my charm,” the Doctor replied and straightened his tie. His response caught me off guard and I laughed, much louder than I really should have. We both froze as I clapped my hand over my mouth and listened for movement. Unfortunately they must have heard me because soon we could hear a few people walking towards us. I leaned closer to the Doctor, almost so that I was leaning against him so that I could talk as quietly as possible. 

“Do you have a Plan B?” I asked hopefully, but when I looked at him I could see the wheels turning desperately in his head. I took a deep breath and stuck my hand in my pocket and made a fist around the screws. I threw them grenade style as hard as I could and chomped down on my lip. There was a moment of silence before the footsteps changed direction and I let out the breath I’d been holding. 

“I can’t believe that actually worked. Okay Plan B, I’m going to draw the Krillitanes away from here and distract them and you’re going to keep breaking the machine,” I announced and readied myself to fire up and start running. The Doctor yanked on my wrist, throwing me off balance. 

“No. We’ll do it the other way around. I’ll distract them and you keep breaking the machine,” he countered and I glared at him. 

“There was a reason I was holding the screws remember? I can’t do the engineering stuff,” I hissed back. 

“This is exactly why things go bad for companions,” the Doctor muttered as he released my wrist. I decided to take that as him agreeing to my plan and gave him a big grin as I shifted my weight again. 

“Well I’m not one of your companions so let’s see how it goes!” I replied jauntily and just caught the shocked look on his face before I launched up and darted away from him. I dashed over to the two Krillitanes, who were confusedly gesturing to the pile of assorted screws and whistled. They jumped and whirled towards me. 

“Hello there gentlemen! Want to see what I’ve been up to?” I requested, blew them a kiss and waved before I started running again. I counted to five before I twisted my head around to see if they were following me. They were, and much faster than I had expected so I picked up the pace and once again tried to ignore the squelching sounds my shoes were making. I was going to have to throw them out. I whirled around the next corner and froze at the barrel of the gun facing me. 

“Hold still now,” The Krillitane advised. I sighed and lifted my arms in a surrender position as the two who’d been chasing me skidded to a stop next to me. 

“In front of me please. Brother Balthazar, Brother Melchior beside her please.” I figured he must have had a higher rank then the other two, because they followed his orders without question. I followed his directions slowly, making sure not to move too fast so that he wouldn’t get too trigger happy. 

“Did you see the Time Lord?” The Krillitane’s voice sounded smooth, as if he didn’t have any reason to be concerned, but I could tell that he was anxious. Obviously they were more concerned about the Doctor’s interference than mine. 

“No Brother Caspar, only the woman,” Brother Melchior answered hurriedly. Brother Caspar shoved the gun between my shoulder blades. 

“Where is the Time Lord?” Brother Caspar asked and I shrugged while resisting the urge to throw him a glare. If he bruised me with that Lillian was never, ever going to let me do anything ever again. 

“I don’t know.” Technically my answer was true, I did have a general idea of where the Doctor might be, but I certainly didn’t know his specific location. Brother Caspar put a little more force on the gun, as if to intimidate me. I did glare at him this time, though I think the effect was lost on him since he towered over me. 

“Brother Thessilonious, We found the girl, but not the Time Lord,” Brother Caspar greeted as we entered a control room. Brother Thessilonious spun on his heel to look me over. I placed my hands on my hips and met his gaze. He didn’t look too impressed, but I noticed that Brother Caspar was keeping his gun pointed at me anyways, so they must have thought I would try something. 

“It’s a shame we couldn’t find him, but his companion will do just as well. He will come running to save her,” Brother Thessilonious announced and turned back to the control panel. 

“I’m not his companion,” I protested and added a silent, hopeful yet. Brother Thessilonious gave me another studying glance before he shrugged. 

“His compassion will drive him to come anyways.” I sighed slightly because I knew that the Doctor would come, even just to attempt to keep me alive. He wasn’t the sneaky peeky type, but he was definitely the noble type. 

“Doctor, we have your companion. She’s alive for now, but I can’t promise what state she’ll be in in ten minutes.” Brother Thessilonious’ voice drifted out over an intercom system which made me jump. I realized that the control room we were standing in was actually a viewing platform for something like a factory down below us. I wondered how long the Krillitanes had been here since they’d had time to set up a laboratory, viewing platform and factory. 

“Emma!” The Doctor cried as he burst into the room with his sonic screwdriver in hand. I wasn’t sure what he was planning to do with it, because judging by the ferocious glare he gave Brother Caspar, he wasn’t a big fan of guns. 

“Hi!” I called back and waved at him. He sat down next to me. 

“Are you alright?’ He gave me a worried look. I sent him a soothing smile and nodded. 

“Perfectly fine. Although I am starting to get a bit sticky,” I replied and waggled my fingers at him. I bent down to start removing my shoes as an idea about my sticky situation occurred to me. 

“Brother Thessilonious you don’t have to do this! I can take you home, no one needs to die!” The Doctor shouted as Brother Melchior approached the control panel. 

“We have heard tales of you from our brethren. You expect us to trust you, Doctor?” Brother Thessilonious scoffed and spun to stand next to Brother Melchior. After I checked to make sure Brother Caspar wasn’t watching me too closely, I nudged one of my shoes towards the Doctor who gave me a weird look in return. I leaned in as close to the Doctor that I thought I could get away with. 

“I am absolutely covered with Krillitane oil and my shoes are soaked with it. I figured that we could use them as projectiles and get them away from the control panel.” I explained softly. The Doctor nodded and held up three fingers. I calmly reached up as he ticked off his fingers and wrapped my hand around Brother Caspar’s wrist as the Doctor threw one of my shoes at Brother Melchior. 

Brother Caspar and Brother Melchior both howled in pain simultaneously and Brother Caspar dropped the gun, which the Doctor kicked under the nearest filing cabinet, as he jumped up from the bench and ran towards Brother Thessilonious. I hurled my other shoe at Brother Balthazar when he moved forward to help Brother Thessilonious fend off the Doctor. 

“It’s too late Doctor!” Brother Thessilonious cried as we herded the four Krillitanes out the door that led to the factory. I kept them in line by lashing my hands out at them whenever they made to step to the side. We shut the door firmly behind them and I slumped against it in relief, my running was starting to catch up to me now that the adrenaline was going away. 

“About the companion thing,” the Doctor started and I smiled at him briefly as I pushed myself up from the door. As much as I would have loved to discuss it, I had a feeling that this wasn’t the time or the place. 

“They aren’t putting up much of a fight to get back in here,” I muttered, while wandering closer to the control panel, to see if I could get the wheels turning in his head. I must have succeeded because the softness in his eyes faded away as he frowned slightly and moved to stand next to me. I glanced out the window overlooking the factory and gasped in horror. The Krillitanes had already found their carbon, or at least some of it, and the Doctor gave me a horrified look as his gaze fell on the replicated Reality Bomb part that was powering up. 

“What do we do?” I asked as I watched the Krillitanes file into their ship. The Reality Bomb part started whining loudly and I could see the people down below beginning to panic. I turned fully towards the Doctor. 

“Think,” I ordered, probably a little harsher than I needed to, but I knew that I was totally useless at this point. The Doctor’s head snapped towards me and he pulled out his screwdriver and handed it to me. 

“Point and –“ The Doctor was abruptly cut short by the control panel in front of us suddenly blew up. I shrieked as a shower of sparks fired out of it and the Doctor wrapped an arm around my waist and hauled me backwards. 

“Apparently our sabotage idea worked,” the Doctor muttered as he released me after we were a few feet away. I bent over and took a few ragged breaths, both to get my heart rate down and to hide my embarrassment for losing my cool over a few sparks. 

“The people in the factory?” I panted out and gave the Doctor back his screwdriver that I had miraculously managed to hold on to. His eyes widened before he spun on his heel and flew towards the factory. I stumbled along after him after I took a few more breaths. 

“They just disappeared. They were here and then they were gone,” One of the prisoners mumbled as the group ran past me after the Doctor had released them. I skidded to a stop next to where he stood studying the Krillitane’s space ship. 

“Fifty,” He stated harshly and I blinked up at him. “Fifty human lives just gone.” I could see the anger in him, in his fists and the tension in his shoulders, but I could see the fiery sadness in his eyes as well. I reached over and the Doctor, reflexively it seemed, released his fist do that I could twine my fingers with his. 

“So make them worth something,” I offered and the Doctor snapped his gaze down and stared at me in confusion. “Send the Krillitanes somewhere else that they can get to with those fifty lives and make them unsung heroes instead of just losses.” The fire in the Doctor’s eyes had softened so that they looked akin to melted chocolate. 

“Oh,” he replied in a way that obviously showed that the wheels in his head were spinning. I raised my eyebrows up at him. He ‘oh’ed at me again in response so I made a little go on face. He dropped my hand and darted towards the Krillitanes ship obviously babbling, but I couldn’t catch what he was saying until I jogged up to him after he’d come to a complete stop. 

“They should have enough fuel to at least get them to Triosia Minor, it’s uninhabited, but there are some absolutely wonderful carbon deposits all over that planet.” His fingers flew over the data pad that was just outside the launch area and slammed his hand down on the final button with a triumphant ‘ha’. I smiled brightly at him. 

“About that companion thing,” the Doctor repeated after we had found ourselves next to the TARDIS. I’d just finished calling Lillian and telling her that I was fine, I hadn’t been arrested or even injured. “Do you think you would be interested in traveling with me?” 

“Two conditions,” I replied as the Doctor leaned against the TARDIS. He raised his eyebrows up at me in question. “Firstly, I want to go home and shower before I get stickier. Secondly, I want to pack because I am not traveling anywhere with only one change of clothes. Also, I have no shoes.” I pointed down at my feet The Doctor laughed and nodded before he opened the door. 

“I accept your conditions. Come on I’ll give you a ride home.” I stepped past him into the TARDIS and had to swallow very rapidly around the happiness in my throat. 

“It is bigger on the inside,” I whispered.


	5. Chapter 4

“So where and when are we?” I asked as the Doctor landed the TARDIS. He beamed at me as he raced towards the door. I followed him at a much more sedate pace. 

“I have no idea. But that’s the best part,” He winked and stepped aside to open the door for me. I blinked against the very bright sun as I stepped out onto the sand outside the TARDIS. We appeared to be somewhere tropical. 

“We’re in the past,” I stated as the Doctor shut the door behind him. He frowned at me and I pointed at the sixteenth century Spanish armada ship that was moored not far off the coast. 

“Huh,” The Doctor replied before he licked his finger and stuck it in the air as if testing wind direction. I wandered around to the other side of the TARDIS before he continued. “I don’t think it’s the sixteenth century though.” 

“I agree,” I called back. He came and stood beside me and I pointed out some of the other ships that were gathered. 

“There’s the USS Cyclops, the Ellen Austin, and the SS Cotopaxi. The Cotopaxi went missing in 1925, so it has to be a little later than that. Doctor I think we’re in the Bermuda Triangle,” I stated and he looked as if he was really torn between wanting to ask how I knew all of that and scoffing at my Bermuda Triangle theory. People had done it before even though I was on the fence about the whole thing. 

“How did you know that?” He asked and I shrugged. 

“I write for a historical magazine and for our October issue one year I wrote an article about the Bermuda Triangle. All of the ships I just pointed out are associated with the mystery,” I explained and the Doctor smiled at me before he set off down the beach. I lingered behind him for a few moments until I was sure I wasn’t blushing before catching up to him. I’d only really gotten into history in the first place because of the Doctor. 

“Rule number one, don’t wander off,” the Doctor announced and I looked up at him. 

“What if you wander off first?” I asked cheekily and he made an offended noise. “Oh please, you are totally the type to ‘wander off’.” 

“I’m trying to keep you from getting yourself into trouble,” he protested. 

“I seem to recall that we got into trouble together pretty handily,” I retorted. He sighed in response so I decided to take that as him sighing in agreement. 

“Okay so we’ve got an approximate where and when, so why are we here?” I was really starting to feel bitter about the fact that the Doctor was a good four inches taller than me. It resulted in the fact that every time I wanted to make eye contact with him when I was standing close I had to crane my neck a bit. 

“You expect me to know why we’re here when I didn’t even know when and where we had landed?” The Doctor asked incredulously and I shrugged in response. 

“You licked your finger and determined that it wasn’t the sixteenth century,” I pointed out. We walked down a small dip in the beach and I paused as my ears suddenly popped. 

“Ow,” I muttered and clapped my hands over my ears. The Doctor stopped dead and gave me a concerned look. 

“Did your ears just pop?” As he shook his head, I looked up at the sky and realized that the small hill we’d just climbed shouldn’t have been enough of a change in altitude to make my ears pop. 

“Did yours?” He asked and I nodded, pulling my hands away from my ears. 

“Can your screwdriver detect altitude changes?” I questioned. I expected him to ask me why I was asking, but the Doctor simply pulled it out of his pocket and pushed the button. 

“That can’t be right,” He muttered after he had interpreted whatever the sonic had discovered. 

“What can’t?” I prodded, idly wondering if I could manage to get him to complete his thoughts without pausing before I stopped traveling with him. Not that I was planning on stopping. 

“It says we’re below sea level. Bermuda’s not below sea level,” He announced before he frowned and took another reading. It must have had the same results because he frowned harder at it. “It doesn’t make sense.” 

“Okay so below sea level like New Orleans or below sea level like beneath the ocean?” I clarified. 

“Ocean,” He confirmed and tucked the screwdriver away before setting off down the beach again. I trotted along after him until I saw something that looked like a little cabin off in the distance. I decided to forgo rule number one and abruptly changed direction. 

“You could at least give me the courtesy of saying that you’re going to wander off,” the Doctor muttered after he noticed that I’d changed direction and caught up to me. 

“Okay,” I replied stopping dead and making a big show of pointing my fingers in the direction of where I wanted to go. “I spotted something that looks like civilization over there, and I am one of those people who need answers, therefore I am going to wander off and explore it.” The Doctor was giving me a look like he couldn’t decide whether he was immensely amused or really irritated. 

“Want to come with?” I asked and pegged the Doctor’s mood as immensely amused as he laughed and held his arm out to me. I linked elbows with him. 

“All the ships appeared to be in perfect shape,” the Doctor suddenly pointed out after a few moments. 

“Which doesn’t make sense since we are apparently at the bottom of the ocean, even though it doesn’t look like it,” I stated. 

“They should show some reason to have sank, or water damage at the very least,” He added and started staring off into space. “It just doesn’t make sense.” 

“So I said. But I made the last two discoveries so it’s your turn to be brilliant,” I teased. The Doctor’s far off gaze shifted to me as he laughed. 

“Oh are we taking turns?” The Doctor questioned joyfully and I nodded firmly. 

“I certainly can’t do any of the brilliant science-y stuff,” I replied airily before I started laughing as we walked up to the cabin. The Doctor deposited me a few feet away from the door before he did a quick circuit and I clued in to how paranoid he actually was about losing people. 

“It looks normal,” he paused at the sad look on my face and frowned. “What?” 

“Nothing,” I whispered around the lump of sympathy in my throat and forced a smile on my face while waving his concern off. He turned towards the cabana while digging in his pocket, but kept me in his line of sight. He pulled out his sonic again and muttered under his breath about wood. I rolled my eyes and stepped forwards. 

“Or you could see if it’s unlocked first,” I offered and pushed the door open. I spun on my heel and gave him a triumphant smile. He smiled back. 

“You know at this rate we might have to start counting these too,” I stated as I walked into the cabin and crinkling my nose up as the sudden perfume in the air made my nose itch. 

“We can’t count these,” the Doctor argued as he scanned the room. It looked rather lived in and recently too. 

“Why? Afraid I’ll get too far ahead of you that you’ll never catch up to me?” I teased as I walked towards the desk in the corner. The Doctor scoffed in response as he spun in a circle with his sonic extended in his hand. I assumed he was scanning for weird technology. I giggled and shuffled through the papers I’d found on the desk. They were mostly little sketches of the landscape and a few drawings of a young girl. I gave up with the loose ones on the top and struck gold when I pulled open the second drawer and found a journal. 

“Ha!” I cried, waving the journal around to catch the Doctor’s attention as he tucked the sonic away. I skimmed through it quickly, while trying to ignore the guilt I was feeling for looking through a person’s private diary, mostly paying attention to the dates and trying to figure out how this person had gotten here. 

“The guy who lives here, he was on the SS Cotopaxi. Although he’s very vague about what actually caused them to end up here. There must be more people who are here because he says he’s going to the town for a wedding. He left yesterday which means that today is June 1st, 1937,” I announced and put the journal back where I found it. The Doctor frowned in thought. 

“You are going to get frown lines,” I stated as I climbed out of the chair. He laughed in response as we left the cabin. I carefully closed the door behind us before joining the Doctor in staring down the beach towards where the boats were. 

“I’ve got a feeling you are about to say ‘it doesn’t make sense’,” I announced and squinted against the bright sun. 

“We are at the bottom of the ocean. There is no way a ship, let alone a person, wouldn’t sustain any damage getting down here,” the Doctor replied. I shrugged and spun a few times while holding my finger out. 

“So since we don’t have all the pieces to this puzzle let’s go find the ones we’re missing. I’m going to wander off that way,” I determined after I stopped spinning. I set off after I regained my balance. 

“You are going to take great pleasure in ignoring rule number one, aren’t you?” The Doctor asked as he fell into step beside me. I shrugged. 

“It’s a silly rule. What’s the rest of the rules? Maybe I’ll follow those more regularly,” I suggested, although I couldn’t exactly promise anything. I’m sure if he asked Lillian would be all too pleased to regale the Doctor with all the shenanigans I’d gotten myself into as a result of not following rules. 

“Rule number three is never knowingly be serious,” he answered. I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“What about rule number two?” I questioned and he looked at me. 

“Didn’t I say that?” He clarified. I shook my head in response. He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. “Details.” 

“Well rule number three is better than rule number one so I’ll follow that one instead,” I announced. 

“You know rule number one is rule number one for a reason,” He replied dryly. 

“Details,” I copied his scoff and hand motion. I could tell that he was trying to look irritated, but he lost all effect that he might have had when he started laughing. 

“Hey look civilization!” I cried and pointed towards a small clump of buildings. Another reason to ignore rule number one, I’d had great luck so far with my wandering off. The Doctor made a little ‘huh’ noise and started walking faster. 

“What?” I asked as I took in the harshness in his face and pulled on his hand a bit to slow him down. 

“I’ve got a theory,” He answered while looking over my shoulder. I tugged on his hand to tell him to keep going. 

“I didn’t think they had a settlement here.” I couldn’t complain too much, since he’d kept talking but that didn’t really help me very much. 

“Who?” I requested and the Doctor opened his mouth to answer when he was cut off by a young woman running towards us with a large grin on her face.


	6. Chapter 5

“I knew it! I knew there was someone else here!” The girl cried gleefully as she raced towards us. I shared a sideways glance with the Doctor and was glad to see that he looked just as confused as I did. She skidded to a stop in front of us and stuck out her hand. 

“I’m Isabelle. Pleasure to meet you,” She announced. The Doctor grasped her hand and she curtsied gently before shaking his hand. 

“I’m the Doctor and this is Emma,” the Doctor said while gesturing between the two of us. Isabelle smiled at him before turning to me and throwing her arms around me. 

“Finally another girl on this accursed masculine island,” Isabelle muttered happily. I gave the Doctor a shocked look and patted her on the back a little stiffly. 

“Nice to meet you too,” I replied weakly. The Doctor cleared his throat and Isabelle turned towards him. 

“How did you get here?” He asked. I could practically see the little wheels in his brain spinning as it seemed Isabelle’s appearance had thrown a wrench in whatever theory he’d been formulating. Isabelle sighed and adjusted her hat. 

“It’s a long story. Come into town with me and I’ll find Slarnix and he can explain. He’s better at it,” She answered a little mournfully. I gave her a gentle smile while nudging her with my elbow. 

“I’m sure that you explain just fine. How old are you?” I asked curiously as I linked arms with her. She grinned brightly at me and started off towards the town that was nestled on the horizon. 

“Seventeen. But I was born in Spain in the year 1565. I’m told that was a long time ago,” Isabelle stated. I nodded gently, trying to keep the confusion off my face while the Doctor made a little noise from behind us. 

“It was a rather long time ago, but that doesn’t really matter now does it?” I questioned. Isabelle gave me a soft smile in return. I chatted with Isabelle as we continued walking and discovered that she had accompanied her father when he came to explore Central America because she had been only fourteen at the time and she hadn’t had any family to stay with. 

“Isabelle!” A tall, turtle-like bipedal creature gasped in relief as soon as we had entered the town. The Doctor crowed in enjoyment as Isabelle detached herself from me. I tried to keep the shock from showing on my face and also not verbalize it as well. I figured screeching at him wouldn’t make a great first impression and would be pretty rude. 

“I told you there were people here Slarnix,” Isabelle announced triumphantly while placing her hands on her hips. 

“Do you have any idea of how worried I’ve been?” Slarnix demanded in a low hiss and Isabelle rolled her eyes, which made me wonder about where a girl from the 1500’s had learned that mannerism. 

“I was gone for maybe a half of an hour,” she protested. 

“A half of an hour of pure panic that could have been easily avoided,” Slarnix muttered. I bit down on the smile that was threatening to pop up before glancing at the Doctor to see if he was amused as I was. He noticed my gaze and grinned madly at me before making a gesture between Isabelle and Slarnix. I wasn’t sure what the gesture meant, but obviously, he was happy about their interactions so I nodded and gave him a big smile while flashing a thumbs up at him. 

“Any ways, this is the Doctor and Emma.” At Isabelle’s introduction the Doctor bounded forwards with his hand outstretched babbling a mile a minute. 

“ _Homo Reptilia_! Living together in a colony with humans! Oh that’s wonderful!” He crowed. Slarnix blinked at him in surprise. 

“You know my kind?” Slarnix asked and The Doctor nodded. 

“How?” He clarified. The Doctor smirked and stuck his hands in his pockets before rocking back and forth on his feet. 

“I’m very old,” he drawled. I gave him a sideways glance as I realized that I actually had no idea how old he was, but if I had to hazard a guess I would have said that he had lived at least three human lifetimes. Although I had the sneaking suspicion that my estimate was leaning towards the low side. 

“Maybe he could help us,” Isabelle suggested with a sly glance towards Slarnix who groaned. The Doctor rocked forward on his feet with a little flounce. 

“How can I help?” he requested with a little glimmer in his eyes. I gave Slarnix a sympathetic smile as Isabelle beamed at him while he groaned again. 

“Isabelle and I believe that we have a saboteur in our midst,” Slarnix explained and ran a hand over his face. I watched the Doctor’s eyes widen a little bit before he nodded. 

“Tell me more,” he said, in that very firm way he had that made it seem like this was more than a request, but still not an order. Slarnix gestured for us to follow him and explained that the settlement had been experiencing a series of mishaps that had gotten gradually more dangerous over time. Isabelle added that they had a theory that one of Slarnix’s brethren had awoken from hibernation as well and that that person was the saboteur. I leaned as close to the Doctor as I could manage once Isabelle and Slarnix were distracted by someone from the wedding. 

“Care to explain exactly what a _Homo Reptilia_ is and why Isabelle said something about hibernation?” I requested. 

“ _Homo Reptilia_ were what roamed the Earth before humans ever existed. Some looked like Slarnix while others are more lizard like I suppose. The whole species went into hibernation because they believed that the moon was going to crash into the Earth,” the Doctor explained. 

“Like the meteor with the dinosaurs,” I interjected and he nodded while giving me a smile. 

“For some reason they never came out of hibernation, which really allowed humans to evolve, but generally whenever they woke up they haven’t always gotten along with humans,” he added as he glanced towards where Slarnix and Isabelle were talking with some of the other people in the settlement. I studied him carefully, despite how happy this settlement made him, something was clearly upsetting him. 

“It must have been awful to wake up and discover that their planet wasn’t theirs anymore,” I stated and the Doctor hummed in agreement. 

“Also, I’m guessing any antagonism was probably at least fifty percent the humans’ fault.” The Doctor burst out laughing at this and tilted his head down to give me a large smile. I grinned up at him and winked while nudging his shoulder with mine. 

“Where do I know the name _Homo Reptilia_ from?” I wondered out loud and the Doctor blinked down at me. 

“I just told you,” he said and I shook my head. 

“No. I know it from somewhere else,” I paused before it hit me. “Sea Devils! My Uncle called them Sea Devils!” I could tell that the Doctor wanted to ask me a question about my outburst, but was cut off when Slarnix and Isabelle rejoined us and I frowned as something else occurred to me. 

“Okay, wait I still have a question. How did everyone get down here?” I asked and Slarnix and the Doctor immediately launched into a discussion that I very quickly lost the stream of. I gave Isabelle a questioning look about halfway through who gave me a sympathetic look and shrugged. 

“What?” I asked as soon as they finished. The Doctor chuckled. 

“When did I lose you?” 

“The start,” I stated bluntly. 

“Some of the technology that allows this place to exist often interrupts the navigation tools that you humans use,” Slarnix started. 

“Which explains the Bermuda Triangle,” the Doctor interjected. 

“Most of the ships ended up here after they entered the shifting area.” I glanced at the Doctor at the last word. 

“Think of the shifting area like a big elevator,” he suggested. Isabelle gave me a confused look so I gave her a very basic explanation of what an elevator was. 

“Okay so if the shifting area is like a big elevator, why is everyone still here?” I figured there had to be a good reason why no one ever returned, especially since elevators generally went both ways. 

“We die if we go back,” Isabelle stated mournfully. The Doctor and I both winced simultaneously. I reached out and gave Isabelle’s hand a comforting squeeze. 

“My Dad tried to go back to Spain. About fifty years after we got here,” She paused and I squeezed her hand tighter. 

“It’s okay. You don’t need to tell us.” Isabelle gave me a sad, grateful smile and I suddenly, violently missed my parents. The Doctor gave me a concerned look when I cleared my throat to stomp down on the pain. 

“The shifting elevator was always controlled by others of my brethren, so I can only get it to work on occasion. And you can certainly understand my reticence to try again,” Slarnix added. 

“Saboteur?” The Doctor prompted and Isabelle and I shared a head shake as the two launched into a deep discussion about the methods the saboteur had employed. 

“Isabelle!” One of the townspeople waved his arms to get her attention and she waved back before trotting towards him. I glanced at the Doctor before shrugging and following Isabelle. 

“Isabelle!” Slarnix cried in horror from behind us and Isabelle paused at the same time the Doctor screamed. 

“Left!” I wasn’t sure if he was screaming for us to go left or if something was coming from the left so I took a chance and grabbed Isabelle’s shoulders and yanked her straight backwards onto myself. All the air in my lungs rushed out of me as my back landed on the ground and one of Isabelle’s elbows slammed into my stomach. I watched as a thick beam swung over our heads before coming to a stop. 

“Oh Sweet Jesu!” Isabelle scrambled off me as I started coughing and my chest heaved as I tried to get my lungs to work properly. 

“Emma!” The Doctor slid to his knees next to me and propped me up against his shoulder and rubbed a hand between my shoulder blades. 

“Are you alright?” He demanded and I saw Slarnix fluttering around Isabelle as I nodded. 

“I got the wind knocked out of me and Isabelle accidentally elbowed me in the stomach,” I answered roughly. One of his hands moved to run over my head. 

“You didn’t hit your head?” He clarified and I shook my head as much as I was able with his hand still cradling my head. His shoulders sagged with relief and I leaned into his hand with a smile on my face. 

“You don’t do anything by halves do you?” 

“What do you mean by that?” He asked as his other hand resumed rubbing between my shoulder blades. 

“I just met you and you’re already super concerned for my safety,” I pointed out. 

“Good point. Can you stand?” When I nodded he jumped up and helped me up carefully. He gave me a soft smile as he tucked one of my blonde curls behind my ear. 

“Well I guess we have to stop this saboteur,” he stated and I laughed. 

“You were going to anyways,” I pointed out. 

“Yes, but now our sabotaging friend put you in danger and I don’t like it when my companions are put in danger,” he replied darkly. Then he gave me an odd look. 

“I also think this would be a great time to mention the merits of rule number one.” I snorted and nudged him with my shoulder. 

“If I’d followed rule number one Isabelle would have gotten that beam to the back of her head. Also I don’t think walking thirty feet away from you qualifies as ‘wandering off’,” I argued. The Doctor frowned at me slightly as if mulling my argument over before nodding. 

“Good point again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone is confused, Slarnix is what Classic Doctor Who called a Sea Devil, who were like cousins to the Silurians. The Sea Devils first appeared in the Third Doctor era episode “The Sea Devils” which is a pretty good serial.


	7. Chapter 6

“So do we have a plan?” I asked as the Doctor and I waded a few feet into the ocean with Slarnix following behind us. After the latest attack on the settlement the Doctor and I had kindly offered to go investigate the hibernation pods and see if we could find anything. 

“We have part of a plan,” the Doctor replied. I gave him a sideways glance to see if I could guess as to how much of a plan he had actually formed. 

“How much of a plan makes up part of a plan?” I clarified. The Doctor laughed at the phrasing of my question before shrugging. 

“We go check out the hibernation pods and we get there through this oxygen vent pipe thing,” he explained as Slarnix reached down to open the grate covering the top of the pipe. I peeked down, noting gratefully that the pipe sat at an angle rather than straight down like I originally thought it had. 

“So we have steps one and two of a plan,” I stated and the Doctor nodded. I glanced down the pipe again before stepping to the side slightly. 

“If you say ladies first I’ll drown you,” I threatened, making the Doctor laugh again before he winked at me and settled himself on the lip of the pipe. 

“You could try, but I can’t drown,” he said cheekily, eyes glittering in mirth. 

“What do you mean you can’t drown?” I squawked indignantly. He winked at me and slid down the pipe before he could answer. I turned to Slarnix who gave me a small smile. 

“I would come with you, but …” He trailed off as if searching for the right words. I waved it off, from what my uncle had told me the Sea Devils hadn’t ever gotten along very well with humans and that Slarnix appeared to be the exception that proved the rule. 

“It’s okay. Besides Isabelle would probably appreciate your help with the rest of the wedding,” I said as I climbed up onto the pipe. Slarnix smiled at me in thanks as I pushed myself off. 

“Respiratory bypass,” the Doctor announced as soon as I landed in his arms. I felt a sudden flash of guilt as I realized he had probably had a hard fall, but was still grateful I’d made him go first. I gave him a confused look before I realized he had picked up the conversation about not being able to drown from where we’d left off. 

“What the hell is respiratory bypass?” I requested as he set me on my feet. I returned the favour of him catching me by brushing the dust off his shoulders and front of his jacket. 

“It’s a system that allows me to go for longer periods of time without needing to breathe,” he explained as he wandered over to the wall and pressed his hand against it. 

“One of your alien being benefits?” I asked airily as I leaned against the wall next to him. The Doctor gave me a look in response. 

“Did you honestly expect me to be surprised about the fact that you’re an alien when you have a box that is bigger on the inside that travels in time and space?” I questioned sarcastically. 

“Others have,” He said vaguely before trotting off down the hallway. I wasn’t sure what answers leaning against the wall had garnered, but decided not to question it if it got us to where we needed to be. 

“Any other benefits I should be aware of?” I was genuinely curious, mostly because it wasn’t like I would be able to determine these things just from looking at him. For all I knew the Doctor didn’t have a spleen. 

“I’ve got two hearts and I can regenerate,” the Doctor said before he made a joyful noise when he found a control panel. I crossed my arms over my chest and rubbed my arms slightly. There had been a temperature change between the surface and the hallways down here that I had only just noticed. 

“Regeneration is the thing starfish do right?” I clarified as I tried desperately to remember my biology lecture that had been required to get my degree. The Doctor nodded absently as he pulled out the sonic screwdriver. 

“You’re right, however my version of regeneration is a little bit different,” he answered and started using the sonic screwdriver on the control panel. I took a few steps forward and leaned against him to rest my head on his back between his shoulder blades. I worried for a moment that I was being a bit forward before ignoring the feeling because the Doctor was throwing heat off like a furnace. 

“You do have two hearts,” I muttered as I listened to the steady double beats of his hearts. He chuckled softly. 

“Are you cold?” I noticed as he tucked away his sonic that it seemed as if the Doctor was trying to make as few motions as possible to not jostle me. 

“A little. I mean I did just wade through an ocean,” I admitted as I pulled myself off of him. He gave me a fond smile before pulling his jacket off and handing it to me. I took it without protest because since he had two hearts he probably had great circulation. 

“I’ve found where the hibernation pods are. Let’s look there first.” The Doctor trotted off down the hallway and I followed after him. 

“So have you figured out step three yet?” I asked lightly. 

“Step three was the control panel. Step four is check out the hibernation pods.” I elbowed him gently. 

“Way to keep me updated,” I teased lightly before the Doctor held up a finger and pressed it to his lips. I fell silent and gave him a questioning look as he gestured for me to follow him and we peeked around the corner. I squinted down the hallway and shifted my gaze back to the Doctor when I couldn’t see anything. 

“What are we looking for?” I whispered and the Doctor shrugged as he stepped fully around the corner. I followed behind him. 

“I thought I heard something,” He paused and frowned at me. “Are you still cold?” 

“My jeans are soaked through and it’s chilly down here,” I pointed out defensively while stuffing my hands deeper into the pockets on the Doctor’s jacket. 

“Also how deep are these pockets? I’m practically up to my elbows.” I wiggled my arms for emphasis. The Doctor chuckled and I gave him an accusing look. 

“Are your pockets actually bigger on the inside?” I clarified, making the Doctor laugh harder. I shook my head at him. 

“How is it that I am not surprised by this even though I’ve barely known you three days?” The Doctor laughed harder and I giggled before the Doctor’s eyes widened and threw and arm around my waist and dragged me to the side as an oddly coloured beam flew past us. I shrieked in pain as I came to a dead stop on the Doctor’s arm and fire shot up my ribs. 

“Emma!” He cried and grasped my other hand so I didn’t tip over. 

“I’m okay. I think my ribs are still sore from earlier.” I took a depth breath before nodding. 

“Alright where’d they go?” The Doctor gave me a blank look. “The shooter. We have to go after them right?” I prompted. 

“No you need to go back to the TARDIS,” the Doctor protested. I gave him a dry look before pointing down the hallway. 

“How exactly do you propose that I shimmy back up that oxygen pipe?” I replied and started jogging down the hallway. I heard the Doctor splutter indignantly behind me. 

“Before you say anything Lillian warned you that I was going to be a handful,” I stated as soon as the Doctor caught up to me. 

“She did,” he agreed with just a hint of dejection in his voice. I shot him a smile and hummed in satisfaction as we continued down the hallway. 

“So how’s the plan going?” I requested after a few moments of silence. The Doctor rewarded my question with a slightly aggravated noise. I bit my lip and slid my gaze over to him to gauge how upset he actually was. He looked only slightly irritated so I let my smile break through. 

“That great huh?” I teased gently. He gave me a look and I giggled as loudly as I dared so that I wouldn’t use up air unnecessarily. The Doctor gave me another look, one that was a mix between irritation and amusement. 

“I always make it up as I go,” he replied defensively. 

“Which is why you humans are foolish.” We both skidded to a stop as we came face to face with a _Homo Reptilia_ with a very large blaster and raised our hands after he twitched his gun. I reigned in the urge to state that the motion was just like the movies. I didn’t think it was the time. 

“I’m guessing you’re our saboteur,” the Doctor stated dryly. The Homo Reptilian’s face twisted up in disgust. 

“It is not sabotage when you are doing the right thing,” he hissed in reply. I shuffled half a step closer to the Doctor, figuring it would probably be a good idea to be close to him for when he implemented the plan I hoped he was working on. 

“And the right thing is trying to kill those people?” The Doctor demanded. 

“Try not to poke the Homo Reptilia with a blaster with a stick,” I muttered under my breath before I could stop myself. The blaster shifted towards me slightly and I could tell that wasn’t going to help diffuse the situation. 

“You apes took over our land and took our homes,” the blaster shook slightly in what I perceived to be rage before it steadied, “I awoke to discover that one of my brethren wasn’t trapped as I was, but content! Content to remain trapped down here and happy to associate with the apes!” Against my better judgement I flinched as his voice rose in anger. The Doctor flashed me another concerned look and I mentally ordered myself not to panic. Descending into a downward spiral that always followed a moment of panic was not what anyone needed right now. 

“I can understand why you’re angry, but–“ I stopped speaking when the blaster swung towards me fully. Clearly my input was neither wanted nor appreciated. The Doctor stepped forwards immediately with his arm outstretched. 

“Calm,” I whispered as quietly as I could manage. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what the Doctor was like when he was legitimately angry and I certainly didn’t want to see it because I had a lack of common sense sometimes. 

“They aren’t so different from you,” the Doctor stated and the Homo Reptilian hissed loudly. The blaster swung to be pointed at the Doctor which I was equally grateful for and concerned about. No one needed to have a weapon pointed at them. The Doctor didn’t seem nearly as alarmed as he had when it had been pointed at me so I wondered if I’d eventually become desensitized. 

“We are superior.” A smug smile split his face. “And I am going to prove it.” The Doctor’s face went hard. A sick feeling settled in my stomach. 

“How?” I hadn’t realized how much emotion could be put behind a one syllable word until now. The _Homo Reptilian_ smiled widely. 

“An explosive device to release a poisonous gas that my people concocted to be especially powerful against the apes. With a slight adjustment to insure that the traitor will die alongside his ape friends.” Since the Doctor wasn’t offering any further parts of his plan I decided to kick start his thought process a bit. I called on the self defense class that Dad had made Lillian and I take when we’d gone to university and kicked the _Homo Reptilian_ in the back of the knees as hard as I could. He fell on his back and smashed his head on the floor. 

“Let’s find that bomb,” the Doctor said after we paused for a few seconds to make sure the _Homo Reptilian_ had been knocked out. I nodded and dug the sonic screwdriver out of the pocket of the Doctor’s jacket and offered it to him. He waved it off and started pulling wires out of the bomb. I squatted next to him for a few seconds before I determined I was going to just get in the way. 

“Point and think right?” I questioned and tapped the sonic against my hand gently. He nodded distractedly before frowning. 

“Why?” I pointed down the hallway where I could see an open hibernation pod and then gestured to the _Homo Reptilian_. 

“I’m going to put him into that so that he can’t catch us by surprise,” I explained as I hooked my hands under his shoulders so that it would be easier to drag him. The Doctor’s frown melted and he let me go with a few cautionary words. By the time I got back he was elbow deep in wires and other electronic things with frustration on his face. 

“Can I hold something for you that won’t make us blow up?” I asked. The Doctor handed me a piece of the outer casing and launched into a spiel about how we wouldn’t blow up, we would just slowly choke to death on the gas. Or at least I would since he had that handy respiratory bypass. 

“Comforting,” I muttered and he laughed before he released a satisfied noise and the electronic sounds stopped. He jumped up and dusted his hands off before taking the piece I was still holding out of my hand and helping me up. 

“So no explosion?” I clarified and the Doctor was mid nod before a loud beeping emanated from the bomb. I cursed loudly at the fact that I had somehow managed to jinx us again. 

“There must have been a failsafe! I don’t have enough time to deactivate it!” The Doctor cried and raced his hands through his hair. He gave me a horrified look before launching towards me and digging in the pockets of his jacket and pulling out a medical mask which he thrust in my hand. 

“Isn’t this going to be useless?” I asked. He glared at me so I slipped it on to humor him. 

“Okay we can’t turn off the bomb, so we just have to make sure that the gas doesn’t get out of here right?” I stated. The Doctor darted over to a control panel and held his hand out for the sonic. 

“I can close the oxygen vent so that the gas doesn’t pump out that way and we can just seal the door behind us,” the Doctor announced over the sound of his fingers tapping on the control panel. I frowned. 

“We waded through an ocean and slid down an oxygen vent and there was a door the whole time,” I repeated incredulously. 

“The door is under water,” he stated. 

“So if we couldn’t get in that way how exactly are we supposed to get out that way?” I questioned and the Doctor paused. I rolled my eyes at the fact that apparently that had slipped his mind. 

“Cross that bridge when we come to it?” I suggested. He shrugged in response and nodded before grabbing my hand and setting off at a break neck pace. I yanked my hand out of his so I could pull off the jacket he’d lent me and shove it into his hands. 

“You have to have something in those pockets right?” I announced and felt immediately validated by the fact that the Doctor started digging in the pockets. I yanked the medical mask off of my face just as he shoved one end of a tube into my hand as we reached the door. I looked between him and the tube in confusion. 

“Do you trust me?” He asked as he rested his hands on my shoulder. 

“No I decided to travel through time and space with an alien that I didn’t trust at all,” I answered sarcastically. He gave me a look in response so I nodded dutifully. 

“Good. I’ve got respiratory bypass and you don’t so we’re going to share,” the Doctor explained. I blinked at him. 

“Share your respiratory bypass,” I repeated just to be sure. The Doctor nodded and mimed slipping the tube in. 

“If I catch some kind of alien cold from you I will find a way to drown you,” I threatened teasingly before I slipped my end in as well. 

“Just breathe normally. I’ll handle the rest,” The Doctor slid his own end in before he reached for my hand slowly and tugged me closer to him so that there was slack between the two ends of the tube. I clutched the Doctor’s hand and squeezed my eyes shut as he pulled the door open and the cold of the ocean flooded over me again. I focused on breathing through my mouth as I preventatively plugged my nose with my free hand before the shockwave from the bomb propelled us upwards to the surface. I spat out the tube and swam towards the beach where Slarnix and Isabelle were catching their balance. 

“How was the rest of the wedding?” I asked cheekily. Slarnix and Isabelle gaped at me while the Doctor burst out laughing.


	8. Chapter 7

“So, where are we?” I requested as the Doctor and I stood by the doors of the Tardis. 

“No clue. Shall we find out?” He gave me his excited look as he pushed the door open and gestured for me to look out. 

“Every time you say something like that the faith I have that you can actually fly this thing decreases,” I teased as I poked my head out and gasped delightedly while the Doctor sputtered indignantly behind me. I reached behind me and yanked the Doctor to look out the door. 

“It’s January 18, 1871. We’re in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles. Germany just signed their treaty of unification,” I announced. He raised one of his eyebrows up at me. 

“That’s Bismarck. And that is Kaiser Wilhelm the First.” I pointed out into the crowd and the Doctor made an impressed noise. I smiled and glanced wistfully out at the party that was just about to get into motion. 

“Wouldn’t it be lovely to go?” I sighed after the Doctor nudged my shoulder to get me to speak. He grinned before digging in his pocket and pulling out a billfold which he tapped gently against my forehead. 

“Better go find something to wear in the wardrobe because I happen to have an invitation.” He smirked at me and I tossed my arms around him and squeezed him tightly. 

“Thank you thank you thank you!” I chanted and dashed off. When I came back after I had found a lovely purple ballgown perfect for the era, the Doctor was leaning against one of the columns nearest to the door giving the console a thousand-yard stare. I wandered up to him and elbowed his shoulder as I continued to pin my blonde hair into a sophisticated bun at the top of my head. 

“What?” I asked around a mouthful of bobby pins. He turned his gaze towards me and I quirked an eyebrow up at him. 

“It shouldn’t have been that easy,” he said. 

“What shouldn’t have?” I pulled a few pins out of my mouth and made a go on gesture. 

“It shouldn’t have been so easy to make you so genuinely happy,” he answered. I shrugged as I inserted my last pin and gave my head a few careful shakes to make sure it was steady before I reached over and tapped the tip of his nose. 

“I would think that you would’ve been happy that I’m not too high maintenance,” I said in response before I flounced towards the door. He was probably right, but I was too excited to linger and talk about it. He pushed himself off the column and gave me a grin as he offered me his arm. I expected us to slip in to the main room unnoticed and mingle around, but clearly the Doctor had other ideas as he presented his billfold to one of the men by the door. 

“Presenting Sir Doctor of TARDIS and his companion Miss Emma Bradley.” A few heads turned towards us as our names were announced, but I didn’t really notice as my attention was mostly on the Doctor. 

“Sir Doctor of TARDIS,” I echoed. He nodded. 

“Knighted by Queen Victoria herself. Of course I was promptly banished, but I don’t think that’s important.” A loud laugh bubbled out of me, which drew more attention than our entrance had. 

“Of course you were,” I chuckled. The Doctor gave me a bright grin before looking over my shoulder and bowing slightly. I spun to find Bismarck standing behind me. I tilted my head slightly and gave a small curtsey. He gave us a tight smile before his face sharpened. 

“I’m not familiar with TARDIS,” he stated and the Doctor rocked on his feet. 

“It’s a very small piece of land in Russia.” I gave him a sideways look at his lie and hoped that Bismarck hadn’t noticed. He must not have since he relaxed immediately and tipped his head at the Doctor. 

“My apologies. You can never be sure who might be involved in espionage after all,” Bismarck stated and skimmed the crowd. I smiled widely as the Doctor nodded in understanding. 

“Bismarck I trust you aren’t being too rude,” Kaiser Wilhelm teased softly as he approached. I dropped into a proper curtsey, but he caught my hand to help me back up. 

“Your Majesty,” I whispered as I attempted not to gape at him like an idiot. He gave me a soft smile and kissed my hand. 

“May I have the pleasure of this dance with you Miss Bradley?” He requested gracefully. I glanced at the Doctor, since he was the time travel expert, to see if it was okay and he made a shooing motion at me. I grinned and slid my arm into Kaiser Wilhelm’s proffered elbow. 

“The honour is all mine,” I answered as he swept me onto the dance floor. We did a few turns before he sent a glance at the Doctor who was in deep conversation with Bismarck. 

“Your Doctor doesn’t seem to be bothered about me taking up all of your company,” Kaiser Wilhelm noted. I pursed my lips while I decided how to phrase my answer. 

“I wouldn’t exactly claim ownership of the Doctor. He’s just a friend of my parents who was kind enough to offer to travel the world with me,” I replied before glancing around. “Now don’t think I haven’t noticed that you have been keeping my company all to yourself for three dances. How does Her Majesty feel about that?” I gave him a bit of a devious grin and he gave me an impressed look in return before smiling softly. 

“My dear wife is not here, otherwise I would certainly be keeping her company all to myself. As it is I should have someone to dance with shouldn’t I?” He winked and I laughed as the music faded out again. My laughter drew a few more head turns, but Wilhelm simply led me off the dance floor and back next to the Doctor and Bismarck. 

“Having fun?” The Doctor asked. I nodded enthusiastically before reaching over and squeezing his arm. 

“Thank you,” I whispered. 

“I’m very surprised that your German is as good as it is for someone your age,” Bismarck noted before wandering off. I blinked after him in shock before looking at the Doctor. 

“I speak German now?” I questioned and he shrugged. 

“Sort of. The TARDIS uses a psychic link to translate everything you say and hear into the appropriate language,” he explained. I squinted at him suspiciously. 

“So are you speaking English to me or some other language? I just mean that English was probably not your first language on whatever alien planet you grew up on so…” I trailed off meaningfully as I realized I was starting to babble a bit. 

“The TARDIS doesn’t translate Gallifreyan since the rest of the Time Lords assumed that only Time Lords would travel in them,” He explained while amusement tugged at the corners of his lips. 

“How astoundingly snobbish of them,” I replied while sticking my nose up so I could pretend to look down it. The Doctor laughed. 

“If Gallifreyan is your language then your home planet must be Gallifrey,” I guessed. The laughter disappeared off the Doctor’s face and regret washed through me. 

“It was.” He said it with such finality that a lump of sadness rose in my throat. 

“I’m sorry.” I squeezed his arm again for comfort. He gave me a look so I explained. “Past tense.” 

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to damper your evening,” he said morosely. I smile widely at him as I pivoted back towards the party. 

“I think you’ve improved it actually. After all you did just open up to me. I’m cracking your shell so that I can see your innards.” I nudged him with my elbow playfully to elicit another grin. 

“Oh I see. And are you going to return the favour?” He requested as he reached over and tickled my waist. I took a step back to dodge out of his reach. 

“We’ll have to see if you earn it,” I answered as haughtily as I could manage before the Doctor caught me and I shrieked playfully. He was interrupted from his tickling endeavour when a footman walked up to us with a plate extended. 

“Miss Emma Bradley?” He asked. I nodded and went to step forward before I realized that the Doctor had physically lifted me off the floor and I hadn’t noticed. I took the message off the plate sheepishly as soon as my feet were back on the floor. 

“Your ears turn pink when you’re embarrassed,” the Doctor noted fondly. I stuck my tongue out at him before I opened the letter. 

“Your presence endangers the mission. Stay out of my way or your lives will be collateral.” I looked up from the paper to see the Doctor’s gaze whipping around the room before he cupped my elbow and led me out of the Hall of Mirrors until we found an empty room. I handed him the paper as soon as he finished sonicing the lock on the door. He skimmed It a few times before he started pacing. I sat down on a stool and squeezed my eyes shut so that his pacing wouldn’t freak me out. 

“So Bismarck wasn’t exactly wrong about espionage,” I stated as I opened my eyes so I could look at him. “Do you think its an assassination attempt?” He raked his hand through his hair as he contemplated my question. 

“Probably,” He muttered. 

“Bismarck or Wilhelm?” I asked. 

“Good question. Depends on who’s behind it,” He stated while frowning off into the distance. I pursed my lips. 

“I’d put good money on the French. Not that that would really narrow down who’s in danger,” I replied. The Doctor hummed in agreement and looked at the note again. 

“How would they do it?” The question seemed like he was just wondering out loud, but I decided to answer it. 

“A bomb would be too obvious and leave too much to chance. Maybe a gun, but there’s no way they’d get out of here without being found. Poison in the punch?” I suggested. 

“Poison in the punch?” He repeated incredulously. 

“I don’t see you throwing out any ideas,” I retorted. He flopped down next to me on the stool 

“A gun,” he stated distastefully. I bit back as smile as I was assailed with the mental image of the Doctor crossing his arms and pouting about our assassin’s choice of firearms. I patted his shoulder. 

“There there,” I soothed teasingly and received a droll look in response. I stood up and smoothed my skirt. 

“So now all we have to do is go back to the party and find the one attendee who sets off your ‘I sense a gun therefore I dislike’ detector so that they can’t kill Bismarck or Wilhelm,” I stated. 

“I do not have a ‘I sense a gun therefore I dislike’ detector,” he scoffed. I grinned widely. 

“I haven’t seen evidence of it yet, but I’m willing to go out on a limb that you have one,” I argued as he stood up again. The Doctor seemed to have a good amount of excess energy which made him constantly move around. If he was human I would have guessed that he had ADD. 

“We just need to find out who’s lying about why they’re here,” the Doctor replied as he opened the door. I poked my head out to see around him. 

“Find out who’s lying in a room full of four or five hundred politicians? Easiest thing on the planet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Historical Note: While Germany’s treaty of Unification was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, I couldn’t find any actual evidence that they had a party, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.


	9. Chapter 8

“I forgot to ask what that billfold thing was that you used to get us in here,” I said after we had returned to the party and mingled a little bit. The Doctor gave me a confused look before he made a noise of realization and understanding and pulled it out of his pocket. 

“Psychic paper,” he replied as he opened the billfold and flashed a blank piece of paper at me. 

“It’s blank.” He grinned, flipped it shut and opened it again. 

“And now?” I perused it again before looking up at him. 

“Still blank,” I stated dryly. He looked astoundingly pleased by my statement as he tucked it back in his pocket. 

“Whoever looks at this paper sees what I want them to see unless the lie I’m telling is too grand, the person is a genius or very unimaginative,” he explained. I arched an eyebrow up at him. 

“Well I’m not one of those last two things as far as I’m aware.” 

“Ever heard of Torchwood?” He asked frowning. I thought about it before I shook my head. 

“No. But my friend had a bad experience with psychics once so she taught me some tricks to be less susceptible to suggestion,” I answered. The look he gave me suggested he didn’t believe that was the whole story, but it was the truth. Unless Lisa had been keeping some secrets. 

“Also while I’m thinking of things I’ve been meaning to ask you, how old are you?” 

“Nine hundred and three,” he answered. I studied him carefully. 

“You look good for your age,” I stated and he preened. 

“I wouldn’t have put you a day over four hundred.” I laughed at his noise of protest before I reached up and cupped his cheek. 

“I’d almost believe you were my age if not for your eyes. They give you away,” I explained and tapped my index finger against his cheekbone gently to emphasize my point. He arched an eyebrow up at me. 

“You seem calm about this.” I shrugged off his concerns as a man walked up to us. 

“If I may have this dance, Miss Bradley?” he requested after he had bowed to us stiffly. I nodded slowly and accepted his outstretched hand. I’d gotten a lot of requests since the new King of Germany had asked me to dance. 

“Are you going to give me your name or should I guess?” I asked after we had danced awkwardly for a few moments. His hand tightened around mine painfully. 

“I think you know,” he replied before falling silent again. The pressure on my hand didn’t let up and I took a deep breath against the threatening vibes he was exuding. I took a quick glance towards the Doctor to see if he was aware of my predicament, but for the first time since I received the note he’d taken his eyes off of me. I sighed and squared my shoulders as I decided to pull out one of my least favourite tactics for getting information, playing the dumb blonde. 

“No I don’t think so. How could I forget a handsome gentleman such as yourself?” Usually at this point I twirled one of my curls around my finger, but since I couldn’t do that I opted to flutter my eyelashes at him instead. 

“Who sent you here?” he hissed and I blinked at him slowly. 

“No one sent us. Were you told to expect someone?” I asked plastering a smile on my face as his fist tightened. 

“The fountain at the edge of the gardens in a half hour,” he ordered before releasing my hand and storming away. I walked back to the Doctor and massaged the pain out of my hand. 

“Bad things happen to companions,” I quoted mockingly as I wandered up beside him. “But the instant this companion gets the heebie-jeebies from her creepy dancing partner you aren’t paying attention.” He glanced down at me with a smile on his face. 

“The heebie-jeebies?” He repeated amusedly. I glared at him half-heartedly. 

“I don’t need to hear any judgements from you Mister wibbly wobbly.” I jabbed him in the side teasingly and he laughed. 

“It might interest you to know that I’ve been summoned to the gardens in a half hour,” I added. He sobered instantly. 

“You’re right. That does interest me,” he said softly. He frowned at my hand and started quizzing me about the exact wording of the conversation I’d just had. I answered as best I could recall while the Doctor pulled out his sonic and passed it over my hand. I knew that my hand was fine, but I could also sense that this was more for his piece of mind. 

“I don’t like it,” he muttered while sliding his sonic away. 

“I know you don’t like it, but this is a great opportunity to see if we can figure out who’s behind the plot and their motivations,” I replied. The Doctor gave me an odd look. 

“You studied history.” I couldn’t tell if it was a statement or a question so I nodded. “Then you would know that neither Bismarck nor Wilhelm get assassinated.” I nodded again. 

“I’ve watched enough time travel movies to assume that history can be changed. Besides so much of history really depends on one event that leads to another and then another and so forth. Who knows what would happen if even one of those events were minutely changed?” It was actually something I’d put considerable thought into while going through university since I had the privilege of knowing that time travel was actually possible. The Doctor grinned at me. 

“You know the science in those time travel movies was probably very wrong,” he stated. 

“I don’t doubt it, but they were fun,” I agreed and felt a pang for Lillian. 

“After we’re done here could we go a little bit further into the future so I can phone Lillian?” I requested and the Doctor slammed a hand to his forehead. 

“Remind me to update your phone when we get back to the TARDIS. I’ve got an addition so that you can phone home anytime, anywhere.” 

“Of course you do. Should we head for the gardens?” I asked since I didn’t have a watch and figured that the Doctor would have a pretty good internal clock. He sighed. 

“I’d feel better if you stayed here,” he hedged hesitantly. 

“But since he summoned me and not you I’m going to say that I have to come.” I awarded the Doctor with my biggest, cheesiest smile. He groaned and raked a hand through his hair before he reluctantly gestured for me to lead the way. I tried to keep the satisfied skip out of my step, but judging by the look the Doctor gave me when I paused to let him catch up with me I didn’t succeed. I sighed delightedly as the cool night air swept over my arms. 

“We could have come out earlier if you were too warm,” the Doctor stated worriedly. 

“I just noticed that I was feeling warm. Don’t worry,” I soothed even though I figured it was useless. I don’t think it was within the Doctor’s capacity to not worry. 

“I’ll worry as much as I see fit,” he protested immediately. I gave myself a mental pat on the back that I seemed to have at least some of the Doctor figured out. As we approached the fountain I decided that I could think of nothing better than taking off my shoes and dipping my feet in the water. I swirled my feet back and forth in the water gently while the Doctor gave me an amused smile. 

“We’re here to meet a would be assassin and you decide that the most appropriate action is to wade in the fountain?” 

“I’m not wading,” I replied immediately. He chuckled and settled next to me, though he left his feet on the dry side of the fountain. I leaned against him gently. 

“Really? How exactly do you know the specifics of what defines wading?” I could tell he was teasing and I knew he was expecting a flippant answer, but I decided he’d earned a truthful one. 

“My Mom looked it up when she and my Dad had a fight after my Mom and I stuck our toes in the Thames when I was seven.” The Doctor’s head twisted to the side as if to guarantee that I was telling the truth. 

“Emma-“ he clearly had more to say, but he was cut off by the arrival of my dancing partner. I spun around and slid my feet back into my shoes. 

“Who sent you?” He requested immediately. 

“As I told you before, no one sent us,” I answered. He gave me a harsh look and focused on the Doctor. I chomped down on the frustration that arose by reminding myself I was in the late 1800’s so I shouldn’t expect much respect. 

“I memorized the whole guest list and there was no Sir Doctor of TARDIS on it.” The Doctor shrugged casually. Since I was clearly not welcome in the conversation I settled for studying my dancing partner. I’d been a bit preoccupied when we were actually dancing. 

“Last minute addition. Who sent you?” The Doctor returned his question smoothly. 

“I don’t believe it matters.” At his words I stepped forwards and reached into his jacket and slid out the gun he had tucked into a hidden pocket. He made a grab for it and cursed colourfully while I darted out of his reach. The Doctor gave me a questioning look. 

“The line of his jacket wasn’t right,” I explained as I let the gun hang off my finger over the fountain. He awarded me with a bright smile before his gaze hardened as he looked back at our assassin. 

“Explain,” he ordered while crossing his arms over his chest. My dancing partner swallowed nervously. 

“My name is Emil Kurtz. I am an agent of Commander Bismarck’s put in place to protect His Majesty.” The Doctor slammed his hand onto his forehead again. 

“Of course. Bismarck would never have solely trusted the guards that work for the Kaiser.” Emil nodded instantly. 

“The Commander believes that there will be many people here who will try to destroy what His Majesty has built,” Emil added. 

“Why bother sending me a note if you were just going to dance with me later?” I asked and Emil frowned at me. 

“I did not send a note,” he stated. The Doctor fished it out of his pocket and handed it to him. Emil scanned it carefully before he shrugged. 

“I do not know where this came from.” I traded him his gun for the note. He tucked it away and flushed slightly. 

“You said it showed.” I gave him a smile and slid the butt of the gun over so that it wouldn’t mess up the line of his jacket. 

“It was very subtle,” I assured him. He gifted me with a sheepish thank you before wandering back to the party. 

“I find a creepy guy at the party and it’s not even the right creepy guy. Story of my life really,” I muttered. The Doctor raised an eyebrow up at my statement. 

“Although if this goes like the last time I found the wrong creepy guy the right creepy guy might just end up showing himself.” Now both of his eyebrows were shooting up to his hair line. 

“Although I did nearly get my head bashed in the last time this happened,” I mused and the Doctor frowned harshly. 

“What?” I shrugged, pursing my lips as I thought of something. 

“The Investigative Incident of 2004 is a bit of a long story. It happened in university and was the end of my very brief stint as an investigative journalist,” I called over my shoulder as I headed deeper into the gardens. I heard the Doctor sigh loudly behind me. I turned the corner and shrieked in shock as I came face to face with a man with a knife. 

“Emma!” The Doctor cried over the scuttle of the pebbles under his feet as the man with the knife reached for my arm. I slammed my elbow into his wrist and listened to the knife clatter to the ground as the Doctor whipped around the corner. 

“No concussion this time,” I announced brightly as I took a few cautious steps backwards until I could feel the Doctor’s body heat. New mystery man stared at me and cradled his wrist. 

“Who do you work for?” He requested and I threw my hands up in the air. 

“Did we not just finish this conversation?” I demanded.


	10. Chapter 9

“My luck sucks,” I stated as the Doctor and I watched Anatole Ivanov walk back towards the party. “I find a creepy guy who turns out to be a German agent working to prevent an assassination, then I find another creepy guy who turns out to be a Russian agent working to prevent an assassination.” The Doctor laughed at that. 

“Well now we know that there’s at least two trustworthy people at this party,” he offered as if he was trying to placate me. I frowned. 

“Still,” I muttered before we set off back to the party. 

“We haven’t danced yet,” the Doctor announced as we got closer to the doors. I blinked up at him in shock. 

“You seemed to enjoy mingling so much I didn’t ask if you wanted to,” I admitted, and the Doctor beamed while he winked at me. 

“I’m prepared to sweep you off your feet,” he replied confidently. 

“And you think that you can do better than all these lovely aristocrats who I’ve already danced with?” I challenged. The Doctor’s lips curled up at the end. 

“I was the one who taught Fred Astaire how to dance.” He adjusted his tie at his boast and I smirked up at him. 

“And that could very well have been two hundred and fifty years ago. You could have gotten rusty since then,” I teased while tossing my head in a mock imperious manner. Now he was starting to show a hint of excitement at the challenge I’d just laid down at his feet. He extended his hand to me and bowed slightly. I plopped my hand into his and squeezed. 

“I expect to be utterly swept,” I announced. I didn’t know if the Doctor had been planning this or if he just had perfect timing because the moment we started the band played the fastest song they had all night which certainly gave him a chance to show off as we whirled around. 

“Feeling swept?” The Doctor asked with an eyebrow quirked up. I pursed my lips as I pretended to think it over. 

“You certainly aren’t rusty,” I answered as seriously as I could. The instant we made eye contact we both lost it and let the laughter loose. As our laughter died I saw something that caught my eye so I squeezed the Doctor’s hand and nodded towards the waiter. 

“He looks out of place,” I stated. The Doctor studied him carefully before he nodded. 

“You’re right.” Some of my tension melted off of my shoulders, I had been starting to worry that I was being exceptionally paranoid about everyone else in this party. 

“Why didn’t we think about that before?” He asked. 

“I think we were both equally distracted by Emil and Anatole,” I said. We changed our dance pattern so that we could keep the waiter in our line of sight. Once the song drifted off the Doctor and I moved towards Wilhelm and Bismarck without a word. I scanned the crowd to see if I could see Emil or Anatole to try and tip them off. 

“Sir Doctor, Miss Bradley,” Wilhelm greeted warmly before I saw either of the two agents and I curtsied, probably not quite politely enough, but Wilhelm didn’t comment. 

“Your Majesty. Are you enjoying your party?” Since the Doctor was practically twitching from either excitement or nervousness I took it upon myself to make small talk. Wilhelm’s lip twitched. 

“I’d say this party is for all the citizens of Germany,” he replied. I inclined my head. 

“True, but that doesn’t deter from your enjoyment,” I pointed out. Wilhelm chuckled before reaching out and grasping two champagne flutes from the nearest waiter who, judging by the Doctor’s sharp intake of breath and the hand wrapped firmly around my elbow, was our new creepy guy number one. Wilhelm handed me one of the flutes and raised it slightly as the Doctor stepped around me and engaged Bismarck in a muted conversation. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Bismarck gesture furiously. 

“To a wonderful evening and new acquaintances,” he toasted. I raised my flute as well and smiled before I caught the Doctor gesturing wildly over Wilhelm’s shoulder. He and Bismarck appeared to be having a bit of an argument with the butler. I took that as a sign that I needed to stall for time. 

“To Germany and the beginning of a new era,” I stated and tilted my flute slightly. 

“Well said Miss Bradley.” Wilhelm tapped my flute with his. I flashed a wild look over his shoulder in the general direction of the Doctor as we lifted them to our lips. 

“Your Majesty I must demand that you not drink that,” Bismarck said delicately while the Doctor opted to wrap his fingers around my wrist and yank the flute away from my face with a faint look of horror looming in his eyes. 

“I beg your pardon?” Wilhelm requested while the Doctor ran a finger along the inside of my flute and sniffed it carefully. 

“Cyanide,” he confirmed quietly and held his hand out for Wilhelm’s flute while my stomach dropped out. Wilhelm held it out wordlessly before twisting to Bismarck. 

“Explain.” So Bismarck outlined that there had been rumors that there would be some kind of assassination attempt, that the Doctor and I had gotten involved after I had received the cryptic note and that the butler, who had interviewed every single member of the wait staff, had no memory of the man who had just attempted to poison the Kaiser and I. 

“What should we do?” Wilhelm asked as the Doctor discreetly dumped out the flutes into a nearby plant. 

“Stay here. The Doctor and I will catch the waiter and leave him somewhere for Emil to find,” I said. Bismarck and the Doctor both raised an eyebrow up at me. 

“You’ve met Mr. Kurtz?” Bismarck sounded shocked. 

“We?” The Doctor repeated incredulously. I straightened my shoulders and nodded. 

“Yes we,” I told the Doctor before I looked at Bismarck. “I’ve had a very busy evening.” Bismarck looked taken aback for a second before he nodded so I took that as an okay and grabbed the Doctor to pull him away. 

“Did you see which way he went?” I asked and he tugged me a little more to the left. The horror that had been brewing in the Doctor’s eyes had turned into what looked like a large amount of guilt. I wondered if I should try and pry it out of him or if it would come naturally. 

“Emma you could have died,” he said with guilt pouring off every syllable. 

“And it would not have been your fault,” I replied firmly and changed direction slightly when he tugged on my elbow again. 

“That doesn’t bother you!?” he sputtered. 

“I have plans to freak out when we get back to the TARDIS. In fact, I was rather hoping you would hold my hand while I freaked out,” I admitted and smiled victoriously when the Doctor laughed choppily and squeezed my elbow. 

“Of course Emma. You never have to ask.” I smiled and grabbed the hand that had been holding my elbow so that we were now holding hands while moving. 

“If it makes you feel better if you and Bismarck hadn’t interfered I was ready to suddenly become very dizzy from the heat and slap that champagne flute right out of Wilhelm’s hand,” I offered and he snorted before squeezing my hand. 

“What were you going to do about your champagne?” 

“Spill it down the front of my dress. I had an inkling that you’ve got a drycleaner stuck somewhere in the endless corridors of the TARDIS,” I answered as I caught sight of our waiter and picked up the pace slightly. We had both silently agreed that we did not need to draw attention to ourselves and cause a panic. 

“And if the poison had been acidic?” The Doctor demanded as we broke free from the main party room and went racing down a hallway. 

“I didn’t think about it to be perfectly honest. And before you say a single word, you can only pass judgement if you look me dead in the eye and tell me completely honestly that you have always considered the consequences of every single plan before you’ve implemented it,” I threatened teasingly. I could tell he was pouting slightly. 

“Not fair,” he muttered and I winked at him before I came to a dead stop as a thought came to me. The Doctor jerked in alarm as I fist pumped the air with my free hand before I started running again. 

“I just realized you gave me so much crap about suggesting that the assassin was going to poison the punch. And he poisoned the champagne!” I crowed delightedly. He gave me an exasperated look, but a smile was tugging at his lips. 

“Is now really the time?” He asked. 

“Absolutely not, but since I have the ability to multitask I am going to bask in this moment anyway,” I answered victoriously as we whipped around a corner and came across the waiter tugging desperately on one of the doors. 

“Stop!” The Doctor shouted as the waiter started running down the hallway again. To my complete surprise he actually did come to a stop before I realized that all the doors down this hallway were locked. 

“What’s your name?” I requested after we had caught up to him. He raised his hands in the air at the same time the Doctor gave me a look. 

“I can’t just refer to him as ‘the waiter’ or ‘the almost assassin’ can I?” I retorted as I realized that the man in question was clutching a vial in his hand. I wondered idly if cyanide could become gaseous before brushing the thought away. 

“Give me the vial. No one has to die.” I turned to face the Doctor at the mixture of determination, desperation and guilt in his voice. He sounded so heartbroken, and tired and old, like veterans when you asked them about when they fought. 

“They will kill me,” he grated out and the Doctor shook his head. 

“We can take you someplace where they will never find you,” the Doctor promised and the waiter shook his head. 

“No!” We cried at the same time as the waiter downed the remnants of the vial. The Doctor’s hand fell back to his side and clenched into a fist as I wrapped my arms around him and tucked my face into his shoulder. 

“I see you’ve managed to stop him,” Emil announced from beside us. I squeezed my eyes shut and hugged the Doctor tighter. I didn’t realize I was muttering ‘I’m sorry’ over and over under my breath until the Doctor rested a hand on the back of my head. 

“Not your fault Emma,” he whispered. 

“Not yours either,” I stated as I looked up at him and detached myself from him. He rested his forehead on mine before cupping my elbow and leading me back down the halls towards the party. We traveled in silence before I bit my lip, weighed the options and decided to speak up. 

“I think my feet are bleeding,” I admitted and the Doctor stopped dead with a noise of horror. 

“What!?” I gave him a sheepish smile. 

“I put my shoes back on even though my feet were soaking wet and then we were dancing and running. I think I developed blisters that split open,” I explained quickly. He blinked at me a few times before squatting down and lifting my skirts slightly. 

“Scandalous,” I teased, assuming that the new noise the Doctor had made was confirmation that I was bleeding. He pivoted and gestured at me. 

“Get on,” he requested. 

“I’m sorry what?” He gave me an exasperated look over his shoulder. 

“I’m sure you’ve had a piggy back before.” 

“Not since I was twelve.” My uncle had piggy backed me out of the courthouse to celebrate, even though I was probably too big. 

”Well I don’t want you to bleed anymore than you already are so hop on.” I climbed on without further protest because I had a feeling that arguing with the Doctor right now probably wasn’t a great idea. 

“You know if we stuck around you could probably get yourself another knighthood,” I said teasingly as we skirted around the party room. The Doctor chuckled. 

“My luck hasn’t exactly held up regarding knighthoods,” he replied and I laughed. 

“I imagine that there is a long list of things that your luck hasn’t held up on,” I teased before glancing back over my shoulder towards the hallway. 

“So, they just never mention the fact that Wilhelm almost died?” I wondered aloud and he shrugged. 

“It was just the four of us who know how close it actually was and it’s not like we were around to tell anyone,” he answered as he shifted me slightly so that he could snap his fingers as we walked up to the TARDIS. The doors sprung open and he continued inside until he could set me on the seat. 

“Okay you seriously need to teach me that finger snap trick. And before you forget you apparently need to upgrade my phone so I can call Lillian,” I stated. The Doctor arched an eyebrow up at me as he fluttered around the console. 

“Can I bandage your feet first?”


	11. Chapter 10

“You owe me space,” I announced as I squatted down next to where the Doctor was digging around in the floor of the console room. I received a muffled ‘What?’ while he patted around on the ground. I picked up the sonic and pressed it into his hand before watching it disappear. 

“I was promised anywhere in time and space. Thus far I’ve gotten aliens on Earth and time, but I haven’t gotten space. You owe me space.” I poked in between his shoulder blades for emphasis along with the last sentence. He chuckled and heaved himself backwards into a sitting position. 

“Any specific requests?” He asked while sliding the grate back into place. I reached out and wiped some dust off his cheekbone as I raised an eyebrow up at him. 

“Yes, I would like to specify a planet even though I’ve never even left the European Continent in my whole twenty-six years,” I stated sarcastically. He tilted his head at me. 

“Touché,” he replied before bouncing up off the floor and towards the console. I got up off the floor to stand beside him because I had a feeling that the floor wasn’t the safest place to be while the TARDIS was in motion. Not that I had determined that there was a safe place to be while the TARDIS was in motion besides gripping the console for dear life. 

“How do you feel about going to see a collaborative effort between dozens of races to educate those who come after them about space travel?” The Doctor asked smoothly as he moved levers. A grin spread across my face. 

“A space museum focused on the exploration of space sounds great,” I answered. He beamed at me as we landed. 

“I did need to make up for the lack of space that you’ve been experiencing.” He adjusted his tie in a self-satisfied manner. I giggled and hugged him quickly. 

“Thanks,” I said sincerely and the smile slipped off his face slightly. 

“You don’t have to thank me Emma,” he said and I shrugged. 

“Sure I do. You-“ I paused so I wouldn’t say something like, ‘Keep your promises’ or ‘Treat me like I matter’. Both of those things shouldn’t still surprise me, but for some reason did. 

“You drove here, more or less. It’s not like I could fly the TARDIS,” I finished after a few seconds that were probably a few too many. I couldn’t quite decipher the look on the Doctor’s face, but most of it looked like hurt, so I made myself a promise that I would start telling him things. 

“I’ll teach you,” He offered as he leaned next to the door and gave me a bright smile. “Are you ready to take your first steps into space?” 

“What do you think?” I retorted as I flounced next to him. He beamed at me again and opened the door for me. I took a deep breath before I stepped out of the TARDIS into the museum. It looked like most museums do except for the fact that all the reading displays were holographic. 

“Did you land us here on a holiday or something?” I asked as the Doctor stepped out behind me. 

“Not that I’m aware of why?” I gestured around the large, empty room. 

“There’s no one here,” I pointed out. He frowned at that and dashed forward to check the calendar on the reception desk. I snagged a nearby brochure and stuffed it in my pocket to take back to Lillian for the scrapbook I was sure she was getting ready to put together with me. 

“Not a holiday,” he confirmed. “We must just be here after closing hours. Private viewing then?” He held out his arm to me with a wink and led me through to one of the exhibit halls after I slid my arm in his. As we walked he added information that wasn’t included on the displays as I read them, but I noticed that he still had a slight frown and was looking around occasionally. 

“Something’s bothering you,” I stated as I leaned down to study the blueprints of one of the first Agrizmodian shuttles. 

“The last time something like this happened was in The Library with River Song,” he muttered. 

“And?” I prompted as I traced my finger over the curve of the hull on the blueprint. He fell silent so I looked up at him and noticed the grief flickering in his eyes. 

“I’ll trade you a story for a story,” I offered. He looked down at me in question. “I tell you a story about me and then you tell me about The Library.” 

“I would like to know about the ‘Investigative Incident of 2004.” I took his statement as acceptance and I grinned up at him. 

“Deal.” I nodded before I launched into the story about my very brief stint as an investigative journalist. I’d been twenty-one at the time and had heard that a local council member had been sleeping with under aged girls so I’d looked into it. It turned out that the council member hadn’t been sleeping with under aged girls, but his son, who was attending university with me at the time, had been. Upon discovering that my investigation was getting him kicked out of university the son had cornered me and tried to get me to say that I had made the whole thing up. When I refused, he got angry and smashed me over the head with a baseball bat and got in two more hits before campus security had shown up. 

“Emma,” The Doctor groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. 

“I got a pretty good concussion and Mom and Dad staged an intervention and made me promise to never ever do something like that again,” I finished. The Doctor shifted his hand so that he could look at me. 

“Thank goodness for that,” he muttered. I smiled before I prodded him in the shoulder. 

“Your turn.” He gave me a sad smile before he told me about Donna and River in The Library full of people who had been saved from shadows that ate people. 

“You realize that I am now going to make you check everywhere in my room for the Vashta Nerada right?” I announced as soon as he finished his story. I felt a flash of satisfaction at the fact that I managed to drag a rough laugh out of him. 

“I can promise that there aren’t any Vashta Nerada on the TARDIS. Or if there are not enough to eat you.” I squinted up at him suspiciously. 

“That’s not exactly comforting,” I stated. He grinned at me widely. 

“I will check your room if you really want me to.” Sincerity and caring dripped out of every syllable. I squeezed his hand before I pointed to a detail on the blueprint and asked him to explain it. We continued through the museum until the Doctor’s head jerked up with a frown on his face. 

“Did you hear that?” He whispered. I glanced around the room before I shook my head. 

“No,” I whispered back dramatically. He gave me a disgruntled look as his shoulders slumped. I laughed before I saw something silver skitter out of the door and I jumped. 

“Emma?” The Doctor asked as he moved next to me. 

“I saw a little silver thing,” I moved my hands to gesture something about the size of a bread box before I realized how silly I sounded. “Never mind. It was probably just some kind of alien Roomba and I’m just being paranoid.” 

“I didn’t think you had a sense of paranoia,” he teased. I rolled my eyes. 

“I think Lillian just adds a new emotion that I have no sense of every time she meets someone new,” I replied. My eyes widened as a thought occurred to me and I ripped my phone out of my pocket. 

“Shit! What’s the date on Earth?” I cried and punched in Lillian’s number. The Doctor looked at little thrown at my sudden outburst. 

“Emma?” Lillian clarified. 

“Lillian! Have I missed Easter!?” Lillian laughed on the other end of the phone. 

“It’s the Monday before for me. You still have lots of time to finish up wherever you are and get here,” Lillian said calmly and I exhaled in relief. 

“Okay thanks.” 

“Did you forget that you’re traveling in a time machine? Even if you had missed the date you could just jump back,” She pointed out. 

“I panicked a bit,” I admitted. Lillian laughed again. 

“Well it’s also three in the morning so I’m going to hang up now. Talk to you later Okay?” I smiled. 

“Sorry. I’ll call you as soon as I’m on my way.” I hung up and shifted my gaze back to the Doctor who was looking intensely confused. I gave him a sheepish smile as I slid my phone back into my pocket. 

“We always go to Lillian’s parents for Easter. We’ve never missed and I promised that I wouldn’t let the time travel thing get in the way of tradition,” I explained. He stared at me before shaking his head and laughing slightly. 

“Do we need to go?” He asked. I shook my head and bit down on my lip to decrease the delighted smile that was spreading over my face. 

“No we’ve got a couple of days. Unless you want to leave,” I offered. He cocked his head at me and smirked slightly. 

“Just making sure you weren’t bored,” he teased. I pressed my hand over my heart in mock hurt. 

“Me? Bored in a museum?” I gasped before grinning. “Bite your tongue.” We continued through the museum until we both looked up at the ceiling as a loud thudding began to resonate through the room. 

“Okay that I heard,” I announced while extending one finger. The Doctor frowned and pointed his sonic at the roof. 

“Not mechanical or electrical,” he muttered as he tucked his sonic away. The thuds continued away from us so I walked in the same direction they were going before the Doctor jerked on my arm. 

“What?” I demanded because I knew full well that he was going to follow the noise anyways. 

“Table.” I looked down and saw that I had been about to walk straight into a very sturdy looking table. 

“I take back my momentary anger.” I sidestepped the table and continued out the hallway. We had just made it into the door frame when the ceiling groaned dangerously and cracked loudly. The Doctor put his hands on my shoulders just as the plaster gave away and a small man fell and hit the floor a few feet in front of us. 

“A man just fell from the ceiling!” The Doctor stated enthusiastically. 

“I saw,” I replied dumbly before the man in question groaned. We shuffled towards him carefully as he rolled over. Once he caught sight of us he jumped to his feet and raised his hands in fists. I stopped cautiously while the Doctor bounded forward to grab one of his fists and shake it. 

“You just fell from the ceiling! Why were you in the ceiling?” 

“What are you doing wandering around!? There’s cybermats all over the place.” The Doctor went stock-still as the man jerked his hand away and glanced around nervously. I could tell from where I was standing that the colour was draining out of his face. 

“What’s a cybermat?” I asked. The man snorted at me derisively. 

“Where’d you pick this one up? She’s not very bright, is she?” I bristled at that so that I wouldn’t flinch at his implication. 

“I am bright enough to know when I need to ask questions because I don’t understand,” I snapped. 

“That’s why there aren’t any people here,” the Doctor whispered, looking more and more like he’d just seen a ghost. “They’ve all been converted.” I frowned at that. 

“Converted?” I repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update this week, I was cutting my mom's hair last night and totally forgot. Oops.


	12. Chapter 11

“You know what? Let’s just assume that I’ve never left my home planet and try explaining the Cybermen to me again,” I stated as I raised my hand to silence the clamour that had broken out amongst the rag tag group of people that Griff had led the Doctor and I to after we had determined that he hadn’t been injured falling out of the ceiling. 

“The Cybermen have been on Earth, Emma. Many times,” the Doctor said from where he’d been brooding on a stool in a corner. 

“Recently?” I asked because Earth had been in contact with quite a few aliens in the past couple of years. 

“Do you remember the ghosts?” I nodded and supressed a shiver. While it seemed everyone else on the planet had gotten used to their presence, the one that had appeared in the apartment that Lillian and I shared had made me nervous until the day it turned into a giant robot. 

“Those were the Cybermen,” he explained 

“They were at Canary Wharf, right?” I clarified. He nodded. 

“I had a friend who went missing at Canary Wharf. Presumed dead,” I whispered almost as an afterthought, swallowing down my grief for Lisa. “Do you think she was converted?” These words spilled from my lips before I could think better of it. Conversion was one of the very first things that Griff and his friends had told me about, with more details than I would have preferred. The Doctor’s head snapped up at my words and he was next to me in an instant, hands outstretched like he was barely holding himself back from hugging me. 

“I-“ The Doctor paused, clearly not sure how to tell me that he didn’t know. I closed my eyes and shook my head as his hands settled onto my shoulders before skating up and down my upper arms. 

“Never mind that question wasn’t fair,” I said. 

“Of course, it was fair,” he murmured and rested his forehead on mine. Griff cleared his throat loudly, so the Doctor stepped away from me. 

“But why would the Cybermen come here?” The Doctor asked the group. Alessia shrugged. 

“Does it matter? Nobody even knows how they got here.” The Doctor frowned at her words. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“One minute they weren’t here and the next they were. Nothing landed here as far as we know, they just appeared and started attacking,” Burche grunted and the furrows on his forehead deepened as he spoke. His facial features vaguely reminded me of a dog. 

“Why haven’t you left? Why hasn’t someone come to help?” the Doctor asked next. I nudged his shoulder teasingly. 

“I’m pretty sure that we’re here to help,” I replied to inject some levity into the conversation. I got a smile and a brief laugh for my trouble. 

“There used to be more of us. A couple of people tried to get to the transporters, so they could leave and the Cybermen got them,” T’Malla answered the Doctor sadly and the feathers on the back of her head drooped slightly and tinted a dark blue. 

“The same thing happened to the ones who tried to send out a distress signal,” Sarah added. The Doctor made a noise of realization and ran his hands through his hair. 

“That’s why you’re all hiding in the walls and using the maintenance shafts to move around. The cybermats will be looking for people who haven’t been converted yet.” I raised my hand in the air slowly as he finished speaking. 

“Emma, you don’t have to put your hand up,” he said immediately. I smiled sheepishly. 

“I wanted to make sure you were done. What’s a cybermat?” I asked. 

“A cybermat is a small robot that the Cybermen use, mostly for surveillance.” The Doctor’s explanation stopped suddenly, and he twisted to look at me, his face filling with a horrified realization. 

“Let me guess, they’re small and silver and about this big,” I said and gestured something the size of a bread box. He nodded stiffly. 

“What does that mean?” Griff demanded while looking between us. 

“I saw one right before you fell out of the ceiling,” I explained, watching worriedly as the Doctor slumped back down onto the stool he’d previously vacated. There was a distance in his eyes that I had only seen glimpses of before now, a kind of lingering pain that wouldn’t be as easy to cover as simply trading stories. 

“So? They just know that there are two more people here than they expected,” T’Malla replied and the Doctor scraped a hand over his face. 

“The Cybermen monitor all the video feeds of their cybermats. They’ll have seen my face.” He sighed loudly and moved his hands away from his face. “Depending on where they came from that could be very, very bad.” 

“What makes you so important?” Burche growled. 

“I’ve fought them before. So many times.” I inched towards him and reached for his hand. Silence fell over all of us before the Doctor spoke again. 

“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would the Cybermen come here?” He asked as he fired up off the stool, releasing my hand in the process. 

“To convert people,” Griff said slowly, like the Doctor had suddenly lost a few brain cells. “It’s what Cybermen do.” 

“Yes, but the majority of the species here wouldn’t have been human.” Burche bristled at that. 

“What does that mean?” He demanded. 

“All the non-human species aren’t compatible for conversion,” the Doctor answered calmly, and I could tell that he was a million miles away. I connected gazes with Sarah and Griff. 

“Great,” I replied dryly. 

“If we aren’t compatible then why are we still being hunted?” T’Malla asked. 

“I don’t know,” the Doctor admitted and everyone in the group started speaking at once, getting gradually louder to be heard over each other. A thought occurred to me, so I raised my hand in the air again. The Doctor bellowed out over the din for quiet when he noticed that my hand was up again. 

“Emma what did I say about the hand?” I gave him another smile before shrugging. 

“So where are they converting people?” I asked. Everyone turned to look at me. “I just mean that the Cybermen must have a place where the conversions happen, and it doesn’t seem like they’re taking their victims off the planet, so it has to be here somewhere, right?” The Doctor stared at me for a few seconds before he bounced up to me, cradled my face in his hands and kissed me soundly on the forehead. 

“Emma Bradley, you are brilliant!” He announced. “We need a layout of all the structures on this planet.” He pulled out the sonic screwdriver and jumped towards a dusty desk. 

“How do we always end up somewhere near a computer?” I asked as I followed behind him. He gave me a grin and a shrug. 

“Just lucky I guess. Now if I can just…” He trailed off before cackling in delight as a holographic map appeared over the desk. 

“Holographs will never not be cool,” I stated as I squished in closer to the Doctor to make room for everyone around the desk. 

“This museum is the only building on the planet. What are you looking for?” Sarah asked. 

“This museum has only been on this planet for one hundred and fifty years,” the Doctor said without looking away from the map. I elbowed him gently. 

“Full answers please,” I requested teasingly. 

“Look there. What’s that?” Griff pointed to a cluster of tunnels at the bottom of the map that looked like it was below the rest of the museum. The Doctor zoomed in on it without a word. Closer up it was clearer that there were two large rooms in the middle of the cluster of tunnels 

“Whatever it is, it’s way deeper than any usual basement,” T’Malla stated. I skimmed my finger through a tunnel that connected the museum to one of the rooms. 

“We could get in through here,” I mused. 

“ _We_?” The Doctor echoed as his head snapped up to me. 

“Get in?” Sarah repeated alarmedly. I nodded. I expected everyone to start talking again, but instead Burche, T’Malla and Griff were all nodding as they studied the map. The Doctor just looked like he took offence to my suggestion of we, which I had been expecting anyways. 

“We can’t just let the Cybermen build an army and spread across the galaxy,” Griff said and crossed his arms. The Doctor crossed his arms in return. 

“I can’t just let all of you walk to your deaths. Your priority should be getting off this planet,” he protested. 

“We can’t get to the transports, remember?” Burche growled. The Doctor opened his mouth again, probably to argue with us more, but his words were cut off by a loud, rhythmic metal pounding sound. 

“It’s the Cybermen!” T’Malla cried and the Doctor pointed his sonic at the door we were closest to. 

“Go! Head for the transports,” he ordered as that door flew open before darting across the room to jam the sonic against the handle of the other door. I ushered everyone through the open door and made sure they were heading down the hallway before I stepped back into the room to get the Doctor. 

“Time to go,” I suggested as he stuck the sonic into an output port on the desk while the Cybermen started pounding on the door. He grabbed my hand as soon as he removed the sonic and pulled me towards the door. He soniced it shut behind us. 

“Left!” The Doctor shouted down the hallway when we caught up with the others. 

“Transporters are to the right,” Sarah protested. 

“So are the Cybermen,” Griff pointed out and yanked Sarah to the left. We ran until we couldn’t hear the Cybermen anymore and we all had to stop to catch our breath. 

“Okay Doctor I have an idea, but you’re going to hate it, so I need you to just listen until I’ve finished my suggestion. Sound fair?” I asked between deep gasps for air as I looked up at him from where I had my hands pressed against my knees. He quirked an eyebrow up at me. 

“No, but I don’t think that will stop you,” he replied, and I beamed up at him. 

“You’re learning!” He chuckled and gave me a fond eyeroll before he gestured for me to continue. “I was thinking that you and I could get the Cybermen’s attention and distract them so that they move away from the transporters so that our new friends can get away and maybe get us some help.” My words caused an immediate protest from everyone. 

“Friendly reminder that we probably don’t want to attract the Cybermen with a too loud conversation,” I pointed out. 

“Why don’t you and the Doctor come to the transporters with us?” Sarah asked. 

“We have our own transportation,” I answered with a sideways glance to the Doctor at his silence. I found him on his hands and knees with his face plastered against the floor with his sonic pointed underneath a nearby cabinet. 

“And what exactly are you two going to do once we leave? Stop the Cybermen?” Griff fired back, and I shrugged. 

“That part of the plan is more the Doctor’s area of expertise.” Burche’s eyebrows lifted. 

“So, there is a plan?” he clarified, and I bit my lip. 

“There’s part of a plan,” I admitted which made the Doctor laugh from the floor. I frowned down at him and nudged him with my toes. 

“If you are not going to help, then you are not allowed to laugh.” He climbed up off the floor with a self-satisfied grin on his face. 

“I’m rubbing off on you. Besides,” He waggled the sonic between his fingers in front of my eyes. “Who says I’m not helping?” I tilted my head and pursed my lips at him. 

“Care to share?” 

“I just sent out a signal that will make all the cybermats gather in a room on the opposite side of the museum. The Cybermen will certainly go and check to see why their cybermats are malfunctioning. It should give us enough of a window to get everyone transported away safely,” he announced and straightened his suit jacket. I smiled at him before pivoting to face the group. 

“Everyone good with the part of the plan that involves you?” I asked. Everyone nodded so I took a deep breath. “Let’s do this then.”


	13. Chapter 12

“It’s a good thing you didn’t claim your idea was foolproof,” I stated as I looked down at a cybermat who was probably looking back at me. The eyes reminded me of a chameleon so I wasn’t sure which way it was looking. The Doctor made an aborted exasperated noise so I shifted my gaze to him slightly. His right hand was extended out towards me with his left thrown out beside him to stop everyone from stepping out in front of the cybermat like I had since I’d gone around the corner first. 

“Emma,” he said pointedly. 

“Right. Paying attention.” I looked back at the cybermat which still hadn’t moved. The Doctor had told me to watch it in case it tried to attack me. I could tell that he was trying to revise his plan on the fly. I bit my lip as I considered the apparently undivided attention that I was receiving. 

“I’m going to test an idea,” I announced and scuttled backwards a few steps before anyone could protest. The cybermat scooted forward slightly in response. 

“Emma,” the Doctor echoed with a touch more panic in his tone as everyone else gasped in horror. 

“Idea confirmed,” I muttered and the Doctor made another noise I couldn’t place. “So, can I suggest that we go with my original plan that you didn’t like?” 

“We’ll need someone to set the transporter,” Alessia stated. 

“I’ll lead it away and the Doctor can send you off and then we can meet somewhere.” 

“No,” the Doctor replied firmly. “Absolutely not.” 

“I agree with the Doctor,” T’Malla said. I squeezed my eyes shut, took a deep breath and opened my mouth to argue about how we didn’t really have time to spare. 

A thunderous crash echoed and my eyes snapped open to three Cybermen walking out of the holes that they had created in the walls. My heart twisted and leapt up to my throat in fear. I’d forgotten how large the Cybermen were and the odd, unnatural presence that seemed to surround them. 

“You Shall Be Deleted,” they intoned monotonously as they clamped their hands onto T’Malla, Burche and Griff’s shoulders. T’Malla screamed and jerked as electricity pulsed from the Cyberman’s palm into her before her feathers went black and she crumpled to the floor. 

“Run!” The Doctor shouted as he shoved Alessia and Sarah towards the transporter room and grabbed my hand as he raced behind them. 

“Cybermat!” I shrieked and pulled on his upper arm to move him out of the way of the Cybermat that had jumped from its position on the floor. Once we were clear of it the Doctor jerked my hand to hurry me along and didn’t let go until we reached the transporter room. I was gasping, though I couldn’t tell if it was because of the running or because my horrible treacherous brain had mixed the sound of Lisa’s voice in with the Cybermen’s. 

“I’ve deadlock sealed the door.” I heard the Doctor say distantly and I realized that I was still gasping and that the world felt like it was shrinking and I had just watched T’Malla _die_ and that Burche and Griff had probably suffered the same fate or were in the process of something even _worse_ \--- 

“Emma.” The Doctor’s soft voice and hand cupping my cheek jerked me out of my thoughts. I stared at him for a few moments as I sucked in a few deep breaths to calm myself down. He made a soothing noise and tucked one of my blonde curls behind my ear. 

“Sorry,” I rasped and he shook his head immediately as he skimmed his thumb along my cheekbone. I took that as a nonverbal ‘you have nothing to apologize for’. “Sarah and Alessia?” 

“I sent them somewhere safe,” he promised as he skimmed his other hand up and down my forearm. I tilted towards him slightly and he wrapped his arms around me tightly without a moment of hesitation. 

“Tell me about the Cybermen?” I asked after I pulled away from the Doctor and we started walking out of the room. He chuckled and gave me a perplexed look. 

“Like what?” 

“Anything. The first time you met them. The Cyber War that Griff talked about.” 

“Why?” 

“I’m trying to catch up. You’ve spent several hundred years traveling and I imagine that those years were all basically like this.” I waved my hand around and he laughed. 

“What gives you that idea?” He asked. I rolled my eyes at him. 

“Call it a gut feeling.” 

“The first time I met the Cybermen was when the extra planet appeared in your solar system, but all the Cybermen originally from this universe were wiped out.” He stopped suddenly as if something had just occurred to him. He put his hands on his forehead before he hit his head a few times. 

“Oh. Oh. Oh! Of Course! It’s just like on Telos!” He must have seen the confused look on my face because he continued without pausing. “Telos is one of the planets where the Cybermen put their tombs. That would explain why no one knew how they got onto the planet! They were already here!” 

“Did you say tomb? Like where they bury dead people?” I asked. 

“Think more like a huge cavern full of several hundred cryogenically frozen Cybermen,” he said and I mentally reordered my imaginings while nodding at him. 

“Why bother converting people then? Several hundred is enough for a small army and judging by the way everyone talked about them that seems like plenty,” I said. The Doctor hummed as he slowed to a stop as the sonic chirped at him from his pocket. 

“I’m not sure. And according to the blueprints we looked at earlier this is where the tunnel connects to the museum. But the question is where’s the door?” He shot me a wide smile and I smiled at him in return. 

“Secret door?” I asked and he nodded with a manic grin on his face. 

“Secret door.” He bounced forward and soniced the wall which clicked before it grated to the side. “Oh, I love a secret door.” 

“It can go on the list of things that will never not be cool,” I said, taking a few steps forward before squatting down and running my hand over the rough ground. “The stairs almost look like they were carved by hand.” 

“They probably were,” the Doctor muttered as he helped me up. “Watch your step. It’ll probably be a long way down.” 

We worked our way down the stairs slowly as the surface of the stairs wasn’t the only thing that was uneven. Different stairs were of different heights, with some switching between a few inches to two feet. The Doctor and I also stayed pretty even on the number of times we stumbled since the lighting wasn’t great either. 

“As far as exit routes are concerned I think that might be worse than being propelled through the ocean by an explosion,” I said as we finally reached the bottom of the staircase. The Doctor laughed as he helped me down from the last step. 

“Going down is always easier than up I’ve found.” I hummed in agreement and he assessed me carefully. 

“How’s your ankle?” I’d had the worst stumble on the way down, bad enough that the Doctor had been concerned that I’d twisted it, but since we’d already been halfway down I’d convinced him that if I was going to make it worse by walking on it I wasn’t going back up. 

“Totally fine,” I said truthfully and lifted said ankle to rotate it around where he could see it. 

“We’re still icing it when we get back to the TARDIS. And you will tell me if it starts to hurt.” he said decidedly as he pined me with a harsh stare. He clearly hadn’t forgotten how I had let my feet start bleeding when we met Bismarck. I nodded dutifully before we set off. I trailed my fingers along the wall as we walked and frowned after a few moments. 

“This tunnel seems odd,” I whispered. The Doctor gave me a questioning look. “I mean I’m assuming that if this is part of the tombs you talked about then this tunnel would have been excavated with equipment, but it feels like it was carved out by hand like the stairs.” 

“You’re right,” the Doctor said after he had run his hands all over the tunnel walls. He gave me a wide smile. “Keep going.” 

“So that means that the original exit was either destroyed or disturbed, or that this isn’t actually tombs like you thought,” I said slowly and he nodded before he bounced forward and kissed my forehead again. 

“You are brilliant.” I smiled at him. 

“You keep saying that and kissing my forehead. I don’t mind just so you know, but I’m just curious about whether you’re trying to train me into brilliance like Pavlov?” I asked teasingly. He gave me a fondly exasperated frown. 

“You look so disbelieving every time I tell you, so maybe I am. Besides,” he adjusted his tie slightly. “I’m the one who gave Pavlov his dog.” 

“Of course, you did.” I paused and took a deep breath because I had promised myself I would tell him things, even if he wasn’t going to take this well. “I had a boyfriend in Uni who called me stupid.” 

“What!?” He looked horrified. I shrugged idly. 

“I broke up with him on the spot, but some things stay with you, you know?” 

“Why did he call you stupid? You aren’t stupid,” he added and gave me a fierce look as if to make sure that I knew it. I laughed and patted his shoulder. 

“He was studying physics and he was trying to get me to proofread one of his papers, but I couldn’t figure out the math so he called me a ‘stupid little girl’.” I grinned slightly at his face as he flashed through several different emotions very quickly. 

“I did tell you that I’m not good at science stuff. I just didn’t mention that I have really bad luck with people,” I said dryly. Mark had apologized profusely the next week after we had both had a couple of days to think about it and I’d accepted immediately, but we’d agreed to not get back together and just be friends. The Doctor was still looking at me like I was a puppy who had just been kicked. 

“Honestly Doctor it’s fine. He was very stressed and sleep deprived. I introduced him to his wife a couple of months after that. She’s a biochemist and actually very brilliant.” I pointed down the tunnel. “Now we have Cybermen related questions that we both want answers to.” 

“You’re actually very brilliant,” the Doctor mumbled behind me before he caught up to me. I trailed my fingers along the wall and noted that they got rougher the further they went before we rounded a corner and both dead stopped at the metal wall that looked like it had been blasted open. 

“I was not expecting that honestly,” the Doctor muttered. I tipped my head to the side curiously as I looked down at the hand that I’d been trailing against the wall. The tips of my fingers were black and I held up my hand for the Doctor to look at. 

“I’m guessing you take back the idea that these are tombs like on Telos?” I asked cheekily as the Doctor pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and started to scrub my fingers. 

“I do retract that statement,” he said as he looked up at me through his fringe. “Care to hear my next idea?” I nodded enthusiastically. 

“Yes please.” 

“From what I can see of the ship it’s from the last few decades of the Cyberwar, which leads me to believe that this ship crashed here approximately fifty years before this museum was built. I’d imagine that at least three quarters of the Cybermen on board would have been destroyed during the crash while the other fourth would have entered emergency hibernation.” He released my hand while tucking his handkerchief away and looked at me as if to make sure I was still following him so I nodded. “The only question is what made the Cybermen wake up now?” 

“Further danger?” I proposed. 

“Seismic activity could potentially destabilize the crash site, but this planet doesn’t have any tectonic plates,” He said under his breath and ran his hands through his hair. I fished the brochure that I’d grabbed out of my pocket and refolded it so that the last page was on top. 

“Would this do it?” I asked and held it out to him. The page was discussing the expansion of the museum and how they were using some relatively old-fashioned mining technology to dig the foundation. He looked up at me with an eyebrow quirked up and I shrugged. “I picked it up for Lillian. She likes making scrapbooks and she has one full of all the museums I’ve ever been to.” 

“You’re full of surprises,” he said. 

“I’m full of surprises? You travel around in a box that is bigger on the inside, fight aliens with a screwdriver that ‘doesn’t do wood’, and the pockets of your jacket might be bigger on the inside too!” The Doctor laughed and I pointed my finger at him menacingly. “I haven’t forgotten that you haven’t given me a straight answer regarding your pockets.” 

“Touché,” he chuckled and probably would have said more, but an all too familiar metallic stomping started resonating down the hallway. I flashed a horrified look down the hallway before I glanced at the Doctor again. 

“Get in the ship,” he said, already pushing me through the hole in the wall. 

“In the ship?” I repeated incredulously. “How are we going to get away from the Cybermen on the Cybership!?” 

“Just get in without being flippant,” he groused and shoved me into a cupboard and climbed in behind me. 

“What else would you keep me around for if I wasn’t flippant?” I said under my breath as we tried to find our balance within the tiny space. I couldn’t quite see his face, but I felt the Doctor flinch. 

“Emma-“ This time he was cut off by the sound of my cell phone ringing in my pocket. 

“Shit!” I hissed as I tried to wiggle around to pull it out of my pocket as the Cybermen drew closer. “Shit shit shit shit.” 

“Mom your timing is impeccable as always,” I said as quietly as I could when I answered. The Doctor shot me a look. 

“Is now the time!?” I shrugged awkwardly at him as the Cybermen drowned out Mom’s response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this chapter late once again which is absolutely MY BAD and due entirely to the fact that I forgot how days of the week work. Rest assured I've set an alarm so that I will no longer make this mistake!


	14. Chapter 13

“Is that your Doctor friend? Why does he sound upset?” Mom asked after a few moments. The Doctor shifted so that he was leaning more heavily on his arm and his shoulder tipped towards me as if to block my words. 

“Yes, Mom that’s the Doctor. He’s just concerned that I’m going to interrupt the tour we’re on.” I felt the Doctor chuckle silently against my ear. 

“What are you touring? Is that that metal noise?” Mom asked brightly. 

“I could call you back,” I offered hesitantly, knowing that Mom wasn’t going to go for it. She hummed a no in my ear. 

“We haven’t caused an interruption, yet have we?” I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall a touch roughly. The Doctor shot me a look of concern. 

“Not yet,” I said before continuing because I had no backbone when it came to Mom. “German factory from the industrial revolution.” 

“Last we heard you were in France,” Mom said. The Doctor made a confused face at me that I couldn’t decipher so I made a face back at him. 

“Well we heard about this tour so we decided to swing this way before I had to come home for Easter,” I said. 

“Emma,” the Doctor said urgently, and his hand tightened around my hip. I blinked in shock because I couldn’t remember when he’d put his hand there. 

“Listen Mom, we’re starting to cause an interruption so I’m going to hang up. I’m basically heading straight to the airport as soon as the tour is done. Love you and give my love to Dad.” 

“We love you too and make sure you invite your Doctor to come along,” Mom said. I slid my phone back into my pocket and looked up sheepishly at the Doctor. He put his finger to his lip before I could open my mouth to apologize so I nodded. 

“The Cybermat scan indicated that there was one two hearted being amongst them Controller.” I hadn’t realized until just know how close the Cybermen were standing to our hiding place. I gave the Doctor a horrified look and he squeezed my hip tighter. 

“Breathe,” he mouthed to me. I nodded again. 

“It must be the Doctor. Add his new face into the databanks then check the conversion chamber.” The Doctor’s lips thinned. 

“Yes Controller.” We both waited for a few tense moments until we couldn’t hear them walking anymore before the Doctor stuck his head out into the hallway. 

“Controller?’ I asked as I climbed out after the Doctor had given me the all clear. 

“Think of it like a Lieutenant of sorts,” He said. 

“I didn’t think the Cybermen would have a hierarchy,” I said. 

“There aren’t very many Cyber Controllers,” he said and headed down the hallway. I followed him and frowned at him curiously as I tried to figure out why his shoulders had tensed up. 

“I don’t keep you around because you’re flippant, Emma,” the Doctor announced as he spun on his heel to face me properly. I blinked up at him as I scrambled to catch up with him conversationally. “You’re brilliant, kind and you have more empathy in you than anyone I’ve ever met.” 

“Thank you?” I said hesitantly because I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. 

“Also, I don’t keep you around, because you are not a possession or a pet Emma. You are my friend.” I smiled and slid my hand in his and squeezed tightly. 

“Thank you,” I said firmly this time. “And since you haven’t offered up a plan, I’m going to suggest a plan that we already used once.” 

“We used a plan already?” He asked. I shrugged and bit my lip. 

“Not here. With the _Homo Reptilia_. We put the saboteur back into hibernation, remember?” I asked and he hummed thoughtfully before he rubbed the back of his head. 

“Not a bad plan, but there was only one of them and the hibernation chamber wasn’t in danger of being disturbed by the same thing that woke him up in the first place. Which would happen as soon as they started building on the museum again.” 

“Would they keep building after Sarah and Alessia tell them about the Cybermen being here?” I asked and he shook his head. 

“No. They’d send an army or a bomb, both of which could restart the CyberWar,” he said. I gave him a half assed thumbs up. 

“Okay so my plan sucked long term wise. Got any ideas?” I asked. He ruffled his hair and let out a gust of breath. 

“An idea that I would rather not use,” he said. 

“Make it up as we go then.” I squared my shoulders and grinned up at him. “Lead on Macduff.” I frowned as the Doctor still looked tense and a little bit squirrely as we walked. I nudged him with my shoulder. 

“What else is bothering you?” I asked. 

“What do your parents think you’re doing right now?” 

“If you mean ‘do they know that I’m travelling space and time with an alien in a telephone box?’, then no. They’re under the impression that I’m travelling Europe with a man who has so many PhDs that I started calling him the Doctor,” I said and watched the little bit of tension that was still left in his shoulders dissipate. I raised my eyebrow up at him questioningly and he gave me a sheepish look and rubbed the back of his head. 

“I’ve had a few incidents with mothers over the years,” he said. 

“I bet you have,” I said teasingly. “You’re invited along for Easter weekend by the way.” He pulled a face at that. 

“I don’t really do domestic. You know, family stuff.” He looked immensely relieved when I nodded at him. 

“I figured as much I just couldn’t think of a good reason why you wouldn’t want to come along. Or at least a good reason Mom would accept,” I said before the Doctor frowned and put a hand on my arm. I fell silent immediately and gave him a questioning look after a few moments. 

“It’s too quiet,” he said. 

“That what they usually say in the movie right before everything goes pear shaped,” I stated cheekily and I either had really bad luck or an amazing sense of time because just as I said that a Cyberman hand punctured the wall next to us. I screamed in shock as the Doctor jerked me away from the hand as it reached towards us with grasping fingers. 

“Run!” The Doctor ordered and pulled me down the hallway as more hands came bursting out of the walls. 

“I’m going to request that you make up a plan on the fly a little bit faster,” I shrieked as we dodged hands as we raced down the hallway. 

“Gold might be a plan,” he said. “Does this planet have any gold deposits?” 

“How the hell would I know? If only one of us had a screwdriver designed to scan things in their pocket. That would be marvellously handy.” He shot me a wild grin in return as he dug in his pocket. 

“Somehow you always get more sarcastic when we’re running for our lives.” He shoved me into a harsh right turn as he pointed the sonic in the air. I flailed slightly to maintain my balance and the Doctor centered me with a nudge from his elbow before he crowed in delight. 

“I’ll take that as confirmation that there are gold deposits on this planet,” I said before I tackled the Doctor into a room, stole the sonic from his hand, pointed it at the door and thought Lock desperately. 

“There now we can think or make plans or something for a couple of minutes.” I handed him the sonic back and he grabbed it loosely while staring at me before he bounced forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead. 

“You’re brilliant.” I raised my eyebrow up at him. “You found the exact room that I needed to see if this plan is going to work.” 

“Well I’m not taking credit for it because it was sheer dumb luck,” I said as I watched him bounce around the room. I stepped back and pressed myself against the wall. “I’ll just stay here out of the way of the engineering.” 

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks and gave me a look like he couldn’t believe what had just come out of my mouth. I gave him a smile and a shrug. 

“Well that just doesn’t work for me,” he said and dragged me to stand next to him. He put my hand on a button and told me to press down on it until he said to let go while he waggled a finger under my nose. 

“Rule number two, just for you, always get in the way Emma Bradley.” He tapped my nose softly and grinned at me when I nodded. 

“So, do you want to share what you’re thinking?” I asked as I pushed the button down that the Doctor had put my hand on after I got the go ahead. 

“The Cybermen developed an aversion to gold, it messed with their circuitry and breathing panels. That being said they soon realized and put a preventative measure into their conversion process,” he said as he twisted a few pipes free and reconnected them in different spots. 

“So why were you excited about gold deposits if gold isn’t going to work?” I asked. 

“These Cybermen were converted during the war and are using conversion machines from the war. At that time the conversion process had a tight timeline so I’m hoping that they had to let a few updates go to fill in the tight timeline.” He pointed the sonic at the wall and there was a low thump that seemed to resonate through the wall. 

“I really enjoy the fact that all our plans somehow end up at hope,” I said. The Doctor gave me a manic grin and laughed. “That being said I would very much like to know how what we’re hoping is going to work.” 

“Fire extinguishing system.” He patted a pipe. “Intense water pressure.” He pointed at the button I was holding down. “Gold dust deposits.” His extended finger shifted to the wall. 

“Okay so you got me to cut the water pressure to build it up while you hooked it up to blast the gold dust deposits to run the dust through the fire sprinklers?” Somehow his smile got even wider at my words as he nodded briskly. 

“And on my mark, you’re going to lift your hand from that button and then we are going to start running to the engine room. I’m going to rig the ship to self destruct which will take care of any remaining Cybermen.” I held up a finger as a thought came to me. 

“Don’t we have to make it back to the TARDIS?” I asked as he bounced over to the door and pressed his ear against it. 

“Its going to be a long self destruct.” He looked up at me and held out a hand to me as he straightened. “Ready?” I nodded and reached out to his extended hand with my free one. 

“Now!” I leapt forward so that our hands could slide together, and we took off like a shot down the hallway as glittering water came firing out of the ceiling. We slipped and skidded past several Cybermen who seemed to be in various states of choking. 

“Left,” the Doctor barked at me and tugged on my hand when I veered right to side step a Cyberman. I flicked my hair out of my face and glared at him as I steadied myself. 

“Forgive me for not wanting to trip on a half dead Cyberman. I’ll be sure to hold us up next time,” I fired back, and he gave me a fondly exasperated eye roll. 

“You just can’t help yourself can you?” he said as we stopped. 

“Nope,” I said, popping the p for emphasis as I raked my curls out of my face with my free hand. They always got so much heavier and wilder when the were wet. I glanced forlornly at my bare wrist. “I forgot one of the most important rules of being a girl.” 

“And what’s that?” the Doctor asked as he struggled to shove a door open a little more. 

“Always bring a hair band even if you have no plans to wear your hair up.” He glanced at me in what looked like surprise. 

“I think you look nice with your hair down.” 

“Looking nice and practicality are two entirely different things.” He shoved the door open and gestured me through. I stepped in cautiously and glanced around only to come face to face with four Cybermen, one of which grabbed me before I had time to scream and another one’s hand shot out and grabbed the Doctor. 

“Well the plan mostly worked,” the Doctor quipped as he struggled against the hand holding him. 

“Not the time Doctor.”


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so just warning everyone that Emma has a panic attack in this chapter, which may not be accurate to most panic attacks, but are modeled after the ones that I've had in my life.

“You will tell us why our calls for aid have gone unanswered,” one of the Cybermen said and the Doctor scoffed. 

“And why would I do that?” In response the Cyberman holding me lifted me off the ground one handed and shook me slightly like a ragdoll. I chomped down on my bottom lip so that I wouldn’t scream, but it was minorly terrifying to discover that everyone had failed to mention that the Cybermen were also much stronger than humans. 

“You lost the war. You are the last of your kind in this universe. Now stop!” He bellowed at the Cyberman who did as ordered. I gave him a weak smile and a shaky thumbs up. He studied my face carefully, as if checking to make sure that I wasn’t injured before he nodded and shifted his gaze back to the Cyberman who had spoken. “Let her go.” 

“You are wrong. We could not have lost. We are superior.” 

“You aren’t superior against a bomb that creates a black hole,” the Doctor shot back. The Cybermen holding the Doctor and I lowered us down slowly, almost as if they were in shock as silence fell over the engine room. 

“You are lying to save your companion.” The Cyberman said and the Doctor shot me a look and made a subtle gesture for me to run over next to him. I looked very obviously at the hand that was still clamped on my shoulder before I shook my head desperately a few times. What I didn’t realize until the Cyberman started choking was that my head was right next to the Cyberman’s breathing unit since it was so much taller than I was, and that shaking my head released a large amount of gold dust right into it. 

The Cyberman scrabbled at it’s breathing unit as it shoved me away and I hit the floor on my hands and knees and looked up to see the Doctor dart forward towards me and another Cyberman reach out to stop him and hit him firmly in the shoulder which sent him stumbling backwards until he collided with a railing. 

I screamed and clapped my hands over my mouth as the Doctor’s momentum tipped him over the railing that blocked the heart of the engine and fell for who knows how long. The Cybermen turned to face me and stared at me coldly. 

“You will be upgraded.” I shook my head distantly as my mind spun uselessly against everything I was trying to process. 

“No, I will not,” I protested weakly, eyes still fixed on where the Doctor had fallen. How had I ever managed to delude myself that I wouldn’t affect him too? He was _gone_ , he had _left_ , just like _everyone else who I had ever cared about_. 

“We will remove your pain, your loss.” I shifted my gaze to the Cybermen as my eyes started to burn with the tears. 

“You can’t have my pain or my loss. You can’t have anything of mine!” I spat out while climbing to my feet to glare at the Cybermen. I’d gotten up from so much in my life and I certainly wasn’t going to let the Doctor’s sacrifice go to waste. 

“Oh, good for you Emma Bradley,” the Doctor said. I snapped my gaze to him in shock and the Cybermen shifted towards him as well. He cracked his neck and adjusted his tie. 

“What? Did you think a little fall would stop me?” He gifted us with a smug grin. I couldn’t speak around my heart in my throat, _He was Gone, gone gone gone gone_ , so I nodded slowly, _because that’s what happens when you care. People leave. People Die_. He gave me a hurt look before he lifted an odd looking remote control. 

“Also, look what I found.” He grinned darkly. “Leaving the parts that make up a Cybercontroller just laying around was a bit egotistical don’t you think. I managed to find the control for your emotional inhibitors after all.” The Cybermen took a step towards him with their hands outstretched and he slammed his palm down on the control. 

“Emma cover your head!” The Doctor cried over the Cybermen’s sudden screams. I stared at him blankly, still trying to get my brain to catch up to the fact that he was alive and I hadn’t killed him with my horrible luck. He was next to me in an instant, shoving me down into a crouch and throwing his arms over my head protectively as the Cybermen exploded. 

“Are you okay?” He demanded as soon as the screaming and explosions had stopped. I stared at him in shock. 

“Am I okay? You go ballistic if there is a weapon in my presence and you get tossed off a cliff and I—“ I gasped desperately as I realized that I had blazed past freaked out and was now panicking because I had used the last of my air. I fisted my hands in the Doctor’s jacket at the junction of his elbows and tried to take another breath in. 

“Emma!?” I was definitely hyperventilating now. I hadn’t had a panic attack since I was twenty-one, when Mom and Dad had gotten into that fender bender when Lillian and I were in college. I’d forgotten how terrifying they were. 

“I can’t-,” My throat felt like it was swelling up and I couldn’t get any air in. The panic settled in thick heavy bands around my lungs. _I thought He Had Died. I thought I had killed him. I thought I had killed him. I thought he was dead. Dead dead dead dead._ “I can’t-“ 

“Can I help?” I looked up at the Doctor and nodded shakily, not fully understanding what he meant. He shook my hands off his elbows and I started crying immediately and scrambled for him. 

“Shh. Emma It’s okay,” he soothed and rested his fingertips on my temples. “Just put anything you don’t want me to see behind a door.” I mentally shoved my parents behind a brick wall just seconds before a calming feeling swept through me. I mentally reached out to grab it and wrap it around me like a blanket. The Doctor’s eyes went soft and warm as he realized why I was panicking. There was a gentle soothing feeling and the bands around my lungs loosened slowly. 

“I’m here. It’s okay. I’m sorry I scared you. I never would have left you.” _Regeneration_ , my brain supplied helpfully. The Doctor pressed a kiss to my forehead and nodded gently. _That doesn’t mean that he would have come back after he regenerated_ , another darker voice in my brain pointed out. 

“Never.” His tone was fierce and stubborn, like my passing mental thought had personally offended him. “It would take a lot more than just regeneration to make me leave you behind.” I could tell instantly how sincere he was, since I’d enveloped myself in his psychical presence. 

“I know that now,” I said as cheekily as I could manage while I leaned into him physically. He chuckled softly. 

“Just take a moment and breathe. Just breathe,” he ordered gently, and I smiled against his shoulder as he coached me through some deep, even breaths. 

“My Time Lord teddy bear,” I murmured softly. He chuckled again lightly. 

“You’re exhausted Emma. I’m going to help you sleep okay? And I promise that I will be there when you wake up.” I nodded and felt the Doctor remove his fingers from my temples just as my eyes fluttered shut. 

True to his word, when I woke up in my bed on the TARDIS he was sitting next to me flipping through a magazine. 

“That’s my magazine,” I said dumbly after I rubbed my eyes and realized what he was reading. He grinned down at me widely. 

“I’ve been reading the articles that you wrote. They’re not bad,” He said. I rolled my eyes. 

“Only a couple things that I got wrong because you interfered?’ I asked lightly. 

“Well,” he drawled with a smile before sweeping an errant curl off my forehead. “Are you feeling better?” 

“Yeah I am. Sorry about, you know, freaking out,” I said and shifted my gaze away from him. He cupped my chin gently so that I was looking at him 

“You don’t have to be strong for me,” he said softly. 

“Not exactly strong, more like I don’t want to be a distraction,” I said with a shrug. He frowned at that. I smiled slightly. 

“You generally need to use that big brain of yours on a plan, and if you aren’t worried about me then all of your brain power can go there,” I said. He shook his head slightly. 

“I’m always worried about you Emma,” he said simply like this was a well-known fact of the universe. 

“Did you carry me up all those stairs?” I asked as I remembered the fact that we had been pretty far from the TARDIS. 

“No I summoned the TARDIS to us. And before you say anything flippant, I can’t do it with any type of consistency so don’t expect that to happen on the regular,” he said. I laughed slightly. 

“You know I’m not actually convinced you can fly her.” I stretched slightly. “Did I miss anything while I was out?” 

“Lillian’s mum phoned you again. I answered because I didn’t want her to worry. I told her you were taking a nap between our tour and the airport. She offered me an invitation to Easter which I politely declined.” I sat up and hugged him gently in thanks. 

“I should pack,” I said as I untwisted myself from the blankets. He made a noise of protest and I rolled my eyes. 

“Lillian will kill me if I make us miss the train,” I replied. 

“I have a time machine,” he said grumpily. Our conversation soon devolved into mild bickering about whether having a time machine exempted you from being late. 

“You’ll be fine,” I said for what felt like the thousandth time after our bickering ended. I was riding high on my victory over the Doctor and tossed a few more T-shirts into my bag with relish. He made a face and reached out to start folding the clothes I’d been carelessly stuffing into my bag. 

“It’s not me I’m worried about,” he mumbled and I scoffed. 

“You’d think your nine hundred years would make you a better liar,” I teased, even though I knew he was worried about me. Part of me was surprised that he wasn’t coming along so that he could keep an eye on me, while the other part was grateful because him coming along would bring up weird questions that I wasn’t ready to answer. 

To distract him I leaned over and mussed up his hair. I liked it better when it looked messy and it had looked particularly flat ever since we’d set off the sprinklers. I giggled as a cloud of gold dust fluttered out of his hair. I’d have to get Lillian to comb any left overs out for me when I got home. He gave me an amused look in return. 

“It’s just Easter weekend. Your invite from Mum is still applicable. You’ll just have to do domestic for a few days,” I said and laughed at the look of mild horror that descended on his face. Obviously, his dislike of domestic outweighed any lingering concerns. 

“I’d rather not. Besides, what would you tell them?” He asked. 

“Don’t worry Lillian and I have a story all prepared.” The story involved the two of us, a cup of coffee and a second degree burn in a café. Lillian and I had concocted this story when I started traveling with the Doctor in case Mum and Dad asked how the two of us had met, but we hadn’t had to use it yet. We also hadn’t considered the fact that the Doctor might have questions concerning my parents. He gave me a faint smile. 

“Of course, you have a story ready to go,” he said and I sat down next to him. 

“You wouldn’t expect anything less,” I said as I leaned against his shoulder. “I’ll phone you if anything goes wrong.” The Doctor smiled and kissed the top of my head. 

“You’d better,” he threatened teasingly before bouncing off to the console room. 

* * *

“You know I really should have known better and told you to call me if something went wrong,” I announced as I walked into the TARDIS after saying goodbye to Lillian on the Monday after Easter. The Doctor smirked at me as he took one of my bags and pulled the door shut behind me. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with as much fake innocence as he could muster. 

“So that missing bus was pure coincidence?” I asked and he winked at me. I returned his smile before I headed to my room with the Doctor trailing behind me. “Meet anyone interesting?” 

“Lady Christina de Souza comes to mind,” he said. 

“Any particular reason?” I suddenly wondered at the last minute if my curiosity sounded like jealousy. 

“She reminded me of someone,” the Doctor said and gave me another wink which made me laugh. 

“Don’t you wink at me. I know perfectly well that when someone reminds you of someone you’re reminded of yourself,” I said teasingly. He laughed as well before leaning forward and dragging me into a hug. 

“Actually, she reminded me of both of us.” 

“Both of us?” I clarified and he nodded as he rested his forehead on mine. 

“She was going on adventures because she was bored.” He pointed to himself before continuing. “And she was very tenacious.” 

“I am not tenacious,” I said and shoved at his shoulder, watching the smile spread across his face. 

“I’d argue that you are the most tenacious companion I’ve ever had.” I rolled my eyes, but smiled back at him in return. I didn’t think I was the most tenacious companion, but I could think of worse ways to be remembered. 

“So where are we going next?” I asked and the Doctor made his little thinking noise. 

“I thought we could go meet Henry Plantaget and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry probably won’t be fond of you, but I think you and Eleanor will get on famously,” he said as he released me and headed back towards the console room. 

“Why on Earth wouldn’t Henry like me?’ I asked even though I knew why. 

“I think he’s had his fill of tenacious women,” he answered and laughed along with me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now before anyone asks Emma goes home for Easter while the events of Planet of the Dead happens. Remember that while this fic is AU it follows the show up to a point and we haven’t hit that point yet, so this is the explanation for why Emma doesn’t appear in that episode. I hope everyone is content with this.


	16. Chapter 15

“I thought you said that nobody could get in the TARDIS!” I cried as I clung to the console as the TARDIS shook more erratically than usual. 

“Well technically they’re not in the TARDIS. They’re hanging onto the side of the TARDIS,” the Doctor cried back as he flipped the stabilizers on and off. I gave him a wild-eyed stare and clenched the console harder as the TARDIS suddenly began spinning in the other direction. 

“Who’s being flippant now?” I asked and somehow, he spared the time to raise his eyebrow up at me. 

“Still you,” He said cheekily, and I stuck my tongue out at him as far as I dared so that I wouldn’t risk biting my tongue. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the TARDIS letting out what seemed like an irritated noise. 

“Emma Hold On!” He shouted, and I nodded and tightened my grip on the console. The TARDIS suddenly jerked to one side, then the other and spun around erratically and, despite my best efforts my grip slipped. “Emma!” 

I tumbled around the air of the TARDIS until the spinning stopped and my breath slammed out of me as I hit the door of the TARDIS laying down. I had a second of clarity as I stared up at the Doctor, who was clinging onto the rotor with all his limbs like a monkey, as he looked down at me and screamed my name as the doors opened and I fell out into the vortex. 

I felt burning cold as I fell for an unknown amount of time and lost track of up and down and left and right. I wondered if this is how the TARDIS felt while she flew us around and made a mental promise to give her some love if I didn’t end up spending the rest of eternity in the time vortex until I landed on my hands and knees on a thick rug. 

“Where did you come from?” I glanced up at the feminine voice and took a quick stock of my surroundings through the lingering burning cold and the rising nausea. Old palace of some kind, furnishings and the dress she was wearing were very fancy and looked to be around sixteenth century. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you Your Majesty,” I said before I threw up in the chamber pot she helpfully thrust under my face. 

“Try me,” she suggested once I’d finished throwing up. 

“Maybe not while we’re both crouched on the floor,” I said, and she nodded in agreement. I struggled for a few moments to stand up since I had the sensation of burning pins and needles from my shoulders down the rest of my body. I made it to my feet at the same time that the other woman did. 

“We’ll have to find you a dress. Ivan does hate immodesty,” she said and gave my jeans and t-shirt a curious gaze. I tugged on the hem awkwardly before letting my hands drop to my sides as she pulled a dress out of the wardrobe. 

“Wait Ivan?” I asked, and she nodded. I wracked my brain quickly for a rough Russian history timeline. I also sent a mental thank you to the TARDIS for the fact that the translation matrix still worked even though I wasn’t close to her. 

“My husband.” 

“Ivan the fourth? First Tsar of All Russia’s?” She nodded again. I gaped at her for a moment before I continued softly. “You’re Anastasia Romanova, First Tsarina. Your Majesty it is an honour to meet you.” 

“I am and thank you.” She beamed at me gently. “Now tell me your tale.” 

So, as I wiggled myself into my borrowed dress, a lovely creamy yellow with an orange trim, and Anastasia settled herself back into her bed and I perched on a chair beside her, I told her about the planet of giants and the greedy one who missed preying on humanity and wanted a way back to Earth. I had just wrapped up my tale of how I had fallen through the vortex and landed on her rug when the door flew open and Ivan barged in. He fixed me with a glare and reached out to grab me and, despite the fact that I had just had an encounter with man eating giants, I flung myself backwards away from his anger. I landed on my feet at the other side of the bed and dropped into a proper curtsey as I kicked my clothes further under the bed. 

“Who are you and how did you come to be here?” He demanded, and I opened my mouth and closed it instantly as I realized that I didn’t really have a handy lie that I could come up with. Anastasia sat forward with a placating hand outstretched. 

“She is Lady Emma and she is here at my invitation,” Anastasia said smoothly. Ivan grasped her hand and shot me another harsh look. I kept my head down, because history would remember Ivan as Ivan the Terrible and regardless of what the Doctor thinks I do actually have a sense of self preservation. 

“How did she get into your chambers without my knowledge?” Anastasia gave him a small smug smile. 

“I have my ways. I invited her here to keep me entertained while I am ill. Lady Emma is an amazing storyteller.” The next look Ivan gave me was deeper and more speculative, like he was trying to determine what I could gain from this or trying to decide between keeping his wife happy and the obvious questions that my presence raised. 

“Very well. She may stay, but she will be watched at all times whenever she is not with you.” Anastasia smiled sweetly and pulled his hand closer to press a kiss to it. 

“Thank you, my husband.” 

“Your kindness is immense Your Majesty,” I murmured and dropped into another curtsey. Ivan gave me a nod before he swept out of the room. Anastasia gave me a curious look. 

“You have very good manners for someone from the future,” she said. 

“I studied history for school,” I said and shook out my hands to try and get feeling back in them. While the nausea had gone away the feeling in my body had begun to alternate between numbness and pins and needles. Anastasia hummed idly as she resettled herself on her pillows. 

“You studied history?” she asked, and I nodded. Then I told her about how the school system I grew up with worked, and how Lillian had studied finance and worked in a bank, and that when I was from anyone could be anything if they put their minds to it. When she asked about my clothes I fished them out from under the bed and handed them to her. 

“Jeans and a T-shirt. Jeans made from denim and my T-shirt is a polyester cotton blend,” I said, and we ran our fingers over them together. Anastasia pressed them back into my hands after a few moments. 

“The future sounds wonderful.” She said as I folded my clothes and tucked them away in a drawer that she pointed at. I smiled at her. 

“I always thought the past sounded wonderful growing up.” We shared a smile and I was suddenly struck by the fact that she was only a few years older than me. Four years at the most, but historians were never sure when exactly she was born. 

“What year is it, by the way?” I asked as casually as I could manage. 

“1560. And for you? When are you from?” 

“2009,” I said just as there was a knock at the door. Anastasia pressed her finger to her lips and I nodded and repeated the gesture as she bade the person to come in. I knew in that moment that we had agreed not to breath a word of the truth to anyone and I was glad that I had found an ally. 

“Your Majesty, I’ve come to escort Lady Emma to her chamber at the bidding of His Majesty.” The soldier snapped to attention as soon as he entered, and I glanced at the grand clock sitting on the other side of the room. 

“I hadn’t realized the time. I apologize Your Majesty I’m certain you are tired,” I said and smoothed any lingering wrinkles in my skirt out. 

“I’ll have you brought back in the morning. Sleep well.” I curtsied and stood next to my escort who bowed before we left the room. He led me to a room about fifteen doors away from Anastasia’s chamber. He stopped outside my door and frowned at me before blinking in shock as I thanked him while smiling at him with just a hint of exhaustion. I shut the door behind me and slid the lock into place, mostly for my peace of mind. 

I sucked in a few deep breaths as I scanned the room desperately, _don’t panic yet, don’t panic yet_ , until I noticed a wardrobe and folded myself into a ball inside it. Once I closed the door behind me as best I could I let myself have a small meltdown. 

In all probability, I was stuck here in 1560 on the generosity of a Queen that I knew would die soon with absolutely no way to contact the Doctor and probably no way for him to find me. 

_I was stuck_. My small meltdown turned into a much bigger one as that thought resonated through my brain. Would Ivan let me live past Anastasia’s death? Even though all the historians said his mental instability increased long after she passed? 

“Lady Emma?” The solider who had escorted me here was speaking softly to me from outside the wardrobe. I hadn’t even heard him come in. “I let myself in because I believe you may be in distress.” 

“A bit of distress yes,” I said laughingly between my desperate breaths. He made a noise of agreement and settled down on the floor. 

“You have nothing to fear. I am here for your protection. No harm will come to you,” he said, and I timed my breaths with his to slow my breathing. 

“It’s rather more complicated than that,” I said. 

“It always is.” I pushed the wardrobe open a touch more at his words. He rewarded me with a quick smile as he pressed his back against the wardrobe that I wasn’t sitting in. “My sister got distressed like this when she met her husband for the first time, and before she left for her wedding. She preferred to hide under the bed though.” 

“I thought about it, but the wardrobe was more accessible,” I said. “Also, I only have one dress so getting it remarkably dusty would not be the best idea I’ve ever had.” He chuckled at that. 

“I can see why Her Majesty likes you.” I nudged the door a touch more open again and a handkerchief appeared through the crack. 

“Thank you. And what is the name of my protector?” I asked as I mopped my face back towards normal. 

“Dimitri Vladimov at your service Lady Emma,” he said and held out a hand to assist me out of the wardrobe as I pushed the door open fully. I gave him a big smile. 

“I’m glad to hear it Dimitri Vladimov.” He grasped my hand tightly and led me not so subtly to the bed. 

“I suggest sleep Lady Emma. I’m certain that by this point you are just as exhausted as Her Majesty,” he said, and I nodded. I’d been tired when I walked into this room and now that I’d had a few meltdowns, I was approaching a point that I hadn’t felt since university. 

“I’d almost wager more,” I mumbled as I flopped down onto the bed. He gave me a grin and held up the key he’d used to get in. 

“I’ll make sure that no one else disturbs you.” He pulled the door shut and I waited until I heard the lock click before I rolled over and shook out the pins and needles again to get comfortable. 

“I can figure this out,” I promised to the air as I let my eyes slide shut.


	17. Chapter 16

“Lady Emma?” Dimitri appeared in the door and I looked up at him from the papers in my lap. Anastasia had fallen asleep, so I’d crept out of her room so that I wouldn’t disturb her. “You have a visitor on the request of His Majesty.” 

“Did His Majesty say who it was?” I asked as I stood from my chair and started putting my writing and utensils into a secret drawer I’d found in the vanity in the corner of my room. Dimitri shook his head. 

“Just that he was some kind of doctor, who wanted to meet the woman who’s been spending so much time with Her Majesty.” I paled and ducked down and shoved my curls that had come loose from their pins into new ones to make sure I was as presentable as possible. 

“How long do I have before he arrives?” I asked while shaking out my arms to alleviate the pins and needles that had risen up again. I was starting to lose hope that that would ever go away fully. Dimitri grimaced sympathetically at my actions and shrugged at me. 

“He should be here almost immediately.” He closed the door suddenly and I took that to mean that my guest had arrived, and Dimitri was going to introduce him properly. 

“Lady Emma. The doctor,” Dimitri announced, and I clapped my hand over my mouth as I gasped in shock as the door swung open again to reveal The Doctor. 

The Doctor and I stared at each other for a few seconds and he grinned at me broadly in relief before I ruined whatever moment was about to happen by bursting into relieved tears. I’d practically convinced myself that I would never see him again and that I would be executed the moment Anastasia died and there the Doctor was, and I knew that he wouldn’t leave me behind. He launched forward immediately and threw his arms around me. 

“It’s alright Emma. I’m here. Oh God Emma I’m so glad to see you.” I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my face into the curve of his shoulder and neck. He was pressing uncountable kisses into the top of my head between his words and his voice trembled as he murmured more soothing and grateful words into my hair. I realized at that moment that he was shedding a few tears as well, which made me cry harder because I hadn’t ever seen him cry before. 

“I’ve never been so happy to see you,” I blubbered between my tears. Dimitri cleared his throat awkwardly. I peered at him over the Doctor’s shoulder, who seemed completely unwilling to let me go yet as evidenced by the fact that his arms tightened around me. 

“I’ll make sure that no one disturbs you.” He shut the door again and when the lock clicked the Doctor pushed me away and started thumbing my tears away after he knuckled his own away. 

“Are you alright? Have they been treating you okay? How long have you been here? What have you been doing?” I sniffled and tried to get myself under control to answer, but he kept rolling. “God Emma. I’m so sorry. I’m so glad that you’re alive.” 

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said immediately, and the Doctor let out a wet chuckle as he reeled me in for another tight, lingering hug before he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket. Obviously I was crying too hard for him to keep up with me without help. 

“You’ll have to tell that to the TARDIS, she feels awful. And answer my questions I’ve been worried sick,” he said. I raised an eyebrow up at him, even though I was pretty sure that any emotion I was trying to portray was lost because my eyes had gone all puffy and I was still crying. 

“Let me just be happy that you’re here for a few seconds before I have to face the inquisition okay?” I said and mopped up my tears. The Doctor smiled at me and nodded as he leaned forwards slightly and rested his cheek on my head while he raced his hands up and down my arms. I almost started crying again in full force because I hadn’t realized how used I had gotten to the Doctor’s physical affection until I didn’t have it anymore and I’d missed it more than I had thought I would. 

“I’ve been re-enacting a thousand and one nights with the first Tsarina of Russia Anastasia Romanova, telling her stories about our adventures and stuff from the future,” I said, and the Doctor blinked at me in surprise. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to say that.” He made a go on gesture. 

“They’ve been treating me well. Better than I was expecting anyways. I’m mostly just happy that I didn’t suddenly appear in Ekaterinburg in 1918.” He shuddered and nodded before he frowned at me suspiciously. 

“How long have you been here?” I bit my lip as I thought about it. The days had sort of started to bleed together since I never saw anything beyond two rooms and the hallway that connected them. 

“A week,” I said finally, and his face softened again as he swooped forwards to hug me again. 

“Oh, Emma I’m sorry.” He whispered something about mere minutes into the top of my head. 

“Really it hasn’t been that bad. The most irritating part is that I’m almost positive that someone is poisoning Anastasia, but I can’t figure out who or how.” I shook out the pins and needles in my arms in frustration. 

“Almost?” The Doctor asked with an eyebrow raise and a small smirk. I shrugged. 

“I’m not a doctor.” Dimitri knocked on the door and pushed it open slowly. 

“Her Majesty is awake and asking for you.” I nodded and stepped towards the door. The Doctor leaped into step beside me and caught my hands in his. I gave our hands a confused look even as I squeezed back reassuringly. He gave me a desperate look in return, like he couldn’t put words to why he wasn’t ready to let me go. 

“Lead the way Dimitri,” I said as I pulled us out the door and into the hallway. 

“Dimitri is it?” the Doctor asked idly. I wasn’t sure if he was teasing me or genuinely asking Dimitri for his name. 

“Dimitri Vladimov,” Dimitri confirmed with a curt nod. The Doctor snuck a glance at me. 

“He talked me down from a panic attack my first night here. We’ve been friends ever since.” Dimitri gave me a warm smile at that and the Doctor squeezed my hand tightly enough that I turned to look at him. 

“I should have been here.” Guilt was pouring off him in waves. I laughed lightly and nudged him. 

“I fell out of the TARDIS. It’s not your fault, so don’t make it your fault.” Dimitri pushed the door open in front of us and I dropped the Doctor’s hand to perch on the side of the bed and grinned at Anastasia. 

“Hello, Your Majesty, do you feel a little better?” I asked, and she gave me a smile as she gestured for me to help her sit up. When she was propped up she noticed the Doctor over my shoulder and stared at him in what I took to be pleasant surprise. 

“He found you,” she whispered, and I nodded. I heard the Doctor suck in a breath in shock, probably realizing how much I had talked about him if she recognized him on sight. 

“He showed up today and offered to take a look at you for His Majesty,” I said. The Doctor stepped forward and reached for her hand as we switched places. I went around to the other side of the bed, picked up at hair brush from the bedside table and started combing Anastasia’s hair. 

“What all has Emma told you?” He asked Anastasia quietly as we worked. She smiled softly and reached over to sandwich his hand between hers reassuringly. 

“That she’s from 2009, she went to university and studied history, that the two of you travel through time and space in a wardrobe.” The Doctor shot me a raised eyebrow and I shrugged. I hadn’t exactly known how to describe a police box before the invention of the telephone. “She’s been worried that she was never going to see you again.” 

“She told you that?” The Doctor asked as he jerked in shock and flashed me a worried look. I blinked in surprise because I hadn’t realized that I’d been so obvious about my unspoken concerns. 

“Not with words, but her eyes are very expressive,” Anastasia said, and the Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver. Anastasia looked at me and gestured towards it. “This is the noise making tool that you mentioned?” 

“Yep, that’s the sonic screwdriver,” I said as I jerkily tied off her braid, the pins and needles had come back, and got up to answer the knock at the door while the Doctor scanned Anastasia quickly. He murmured something to her under his breath and she responded just as softly while I opened the door. 

“More broth?” Anastasia asked lightly as I came back bearing a tray of food. I grinned at her. 

“I’m afraid so.” I placed the tray over her lap and let the Doctor pull me away by my elbow. He ducked his head closer to mine and I had to hold back the tears again because I was still reeling over the fact that he was here. 

“She’s definitely being poisoned. Mercury I’d wager,” he said, and I bit my lip and shook out my arms. 

“Ivan always thought that she had been poisoned even though there was never any real proof of it,” I said. The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. 

“Obviously her food is tested, so it can’t be that. Do you know what they’re giving her for medicine?” He asked, and I shook my head. 

“I’m not allowed to be here when the court doctors give it to her.” I grinned at him as a thought occurred to me. “We’re starting to set a pattern for poisonings in the past.” He laughed. 

“Two times does not a pattern make,” he said with a smile. 

“I did say start.” There was a knock at the door and I stepped back towards Anastasia who looked up from her bowl as Dimitri and one of the court doctors pushed the door open. The Doctor bounced forward to speak with the court doctor. 

“Medicine already?” She asked as I smoothed her hair back from her face. I gave her a teasing smile. 

“That’s what happens when you sleep the day away,” I teased gently before the court doctor cleared his throat very pointedly and Dimitri grasped my elbow. 

“See you tomorrow, Your Majesty.” I curtsied properly and chomped down on my lip to keep from snapping at the court doctor as he obviously shoved me towards the door away from Anastasia. The Doctor spun towards him with his mouth open, obviously ready to force an apology, but stopped when he noticed me shaking my head. I’d gotten used to it, and I didn’t want him to kick up a fuss over nothing. 

“I quite like that Doctor of yours,” Dimitri said as we walked back to my room. I smiled at him slowly. 

“I think he likes you too.” I flopped onto my bed and Dimitri laughed gently. 

“I’ll let the Doctor back in when he gets here.” I mumbled my thanks to him at his words and drifted off to sleep as soon as the door shut.


	18. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I gotta be honest here the plot takes a bit of a back seat here for some emotions. Sorry I guess *shrugs*

_They’re yelling again, yelling at that volume they’ve perfected so that they’re still screaming at each other, but the neighbors can’t hear and call the police. Mom cooked, and Dad said it tasted plain and now they’re screaming._

_“I’m sorry that I’m not good enough!” Mom screams and throws two containers of spices on the floor._

_“I’m sorry that you can’t handle my opinion!” Dad screams back, and more spices hit the floor._

_Smash, Smash, Screaming._

_Smash, Smash, Screaming._

_And I’m stuck at the table, I can’t leave because they’ll fight harder and I can’t cry because they’ll fight harder and I can’t beg them to stop because they’ll fight harder._

_Smash, Smash, Screaming._

_I’m stuck._

I jerked awake and threw my arms around the Doctor as I shot up and tried to breath through the lingering panic. 

“Sorry,” I muttered and tried to lean back before his hand stroking my hair stopped me. 

“You trust me,” he whispered amazedly and pressed another hand between my shoulder blades to guide my breathing a little bit. 

“Obviously,” I said and snuggled a little further into the Doctor. If he wasn’t bothered by the fact that I’d launched myself at him then I wasn’t in a hurry to move. 

“No, I mean I was going to wake you when I realized you were having a nightmare. But before I could you just came to me for comfort.” I nodded gently. 

“You’re very comforting,” I assured him. He chuckled and let us sit in silence for a few minutes before the Doctor spoke again. 

“What were you dreaming about?” He almost seemed afraid of my answer, no doubt ready to blame himself because one of the Doctor’s favourite pass times was martyrdom. 

“My parents.” I squeezed my eyes shut and pulled away from him slowly, because this was going to be a complicated conversation and I wanted to be able to look at him. 

“Your parents give you nightmares?” 

“I lost them when I was twelve. Car crash.” He gave me a soulful look and grasped my hand. 

“I’m so sorry Emma.” I pulled my hand from his and shook them out and shook my head. He frowned and grabbed my hand back. 

“What’s wrong with your hands? Dimitri told me that something’s wrong with them, but that you won’t tell him what.” 

“Pins and needles. I’ve had them since I arrived. It used to be from my neck down, but now its mostly just my lower arms.” The Doctor shot me another frown. 

“I told you to tell me everything.” I opened my mouth to tell him that I forgot about the pins and needles, but he cut off my words with a deeper frown. “Make it up to me by telling me about your parents. You made a weird face.” 

I watched him poke at my forearm carefully and he must have picked up on the fact that my breathing picked up again. 

“Story for a story?” He offered as he looked up at me through his fringe. I nodded slowly and took a deep breath. I knew I owed him the truth about this, since I’d danced around it after the Cybermen even though I knew that he wouldn’t have judged me. 

“My parents didn’t work. Not unemployed not work, but not work in the fact that they didn’t get along. They fought all the time, about everything. Big stuff and little stuff and stuff that shouldn’t matter. And I learned very early that they fought harder if I cried about the fights, or asked them to stop, or basically reacted in any way. So, I learned to just sit there and not react while they shouted and screamed.” 

“And honestly it was almost worse when they weren’t fighting because I never knew what was going to cause a fight, so I walked on eggshells around my parents for years. It was the worst when I was ten. They tried getting couples therapy and it made it worse because they just wouldn’t talk to each other, so they’d go days just stewing in their anger before they exploded.” I sucked in a huge breath of air before I admitted the last little bit. 

“They only got married in the first place because I was coming along and that was the proper thing to do, before that they were basically like hippies. Always travelling around and I guess they couldn’t do the domestic, settled down thing.” The Doctor sat up and pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead before he pulled away and thumbed at the tears that had risen. 

“Oh Emma.” He obviously hadn’t been expecting that and seemed at a loss of words for the first time since I’d met him. “What did you do after?” 

“Lillian’s parents took me in.” 

“That’s why you call Lillian’s parents Mom and Dad too.” I nodded, and he pressed another kiss to my forehead. 

“I always specify my parents when I’m talking about my parents.” 

“Story for a story?” He asked, and I gave him a smile. 

“Picked it up in therapy.” He blinked at me in surprise. “I developed some pretty severe abandonment issues after. Not to mention all the trauma from all the fighting.” I’d gone every week for almost six years and I’d gone back sporadically over the years since then. Mostly for things that had caused my abandonment issues to spring back up, like when Mom and Dad got in a car crash or my long-time boyfriend abruptly broke up with me. 

“That explains the panic attack,” he said, obviously talking about the Cybermen. 

“Yeah.” I rested my head on his shoulder for a second before a thought occurred to me. “Can we go back a few hours to when you said you were glad I was alive? Because we didn’t address that, and I think we should.” 

“You fell straight into the time vortex with no shield or way to guide you. Realistically you should have disintegrated,” he said frankly. 

“And you came looking for me anyways?” I asked, and I don’t think I’d ever seen the Doctor look more hurt or surprised than in this moment. I think he would have been less astonished if I’d slapped him across the face. 

“Of course, I did! Did you think for a single minute that I wouldn’t try?” He looked horrified, so I shook my head and the anger rushed out of him. “The TARDIS was frantic as well, so I figured she must have done something to save you.” 

“She was frantic?” I asked, and the Doctor nodded. 

“She’s very fond of you Emma.” We sat in silence for a few seconds before the Doctor ran his hands through his hair. “Story for a story.” 

He sounded so dejected, like he was preparing himself for my reaction, so I reached out and grabbed his hands and squeezed them as tightly as I dared. I was about to tell him that he didn’t have to, because all I’d really needed to start talking was a push, when he started talking. 

“There was a war. A war that spread across all of time and space between my people, the Time Lords, and the Daleks. I was the one who made the war happen; I went to when the Daleks were created and tried to destroy them before they had a chance to even live. I talked myself out of it, but it was still me.” 

“And when the war started, truly started, I tried to stay out of it because I wanted to be the Doctor, the man who fixes not destroys. And because I knew that if I got involved then I would fight the war too well.” 

“But finally, it got to the point where I had to act. I had to act because the whole of time was burning. The war was so all consuming that every single moment of time would have burnt to ashes and I couldn’t sit to the side and allow all those innocent people to die. So, I ended the war. I ended the war with one single action.” 

“I destroyed my home planet, Gallifrey along with all the people who were living there, and the Daleks. I pushed a button to kill millions of innocents to save trillions from a danger that was of my own creation in a sense. And it didn’t really even work, because the Daleks lived.” He looked up at me for the first time and I realized that I had started crying at some point though I wasn’t sure what had been the moment to push me over the edge. 

“I must seem so stupid to you,” I whispered, and the Doctor swept me up in his arms again as I began to weep heavily. 

“No Emma. I won’t let you belittle the struggles and trauma you endured and overcame just because its different than mine.” 

“You gave up your home to save the universe,” I protested. 

“You lost your whole family.” 

“That’s a completely different level.” He laughed darkly and wetly. 

“Do you remember what you said to me, after the Krillitanes killed those fifty people?” He asked, and I looked up at him and shook my head. “You held my hand and you told me to make them worth something. To take those people who had died for no reason and make them unsung heroes. I was useless, because all I could see was my pain and you showed me such strength that day because you took my pain and guided it.” 

“You’ve shown me that strength every single day Emma. So, don’t you ever dare try to make yourself seem like less than me. I am continually astounded by you and I hope desperately that one day I can return the favour.” I opened my mouth to tell him that he already had and tell him about the story of how I’d first met him, but then I realized that the timing still wasn’t quite right. 

“You will,” I assured him instead before I let myself lean into him until he was the only thing keeping me in a sitting position. 

“How often have you been having nightmares?” he asked as he reached up and started pulling pins out of my hair. 

“Nightly. And before you ask I generally get around five hours of sleep a night. But it’s okay I’ve adapted.” He grumbled under his breath and rubbed his fingers over my scalp as he pulled out the last pin. I sighed lightly in pleasure because I hadn’t realized the headache that had grown over the hours. 

“Next time I ask you to tell me everything please actually tell me everything Emma Bradley.” I chuckled and yawned against his shoulder. 

“I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that you were here, and I don’t think you ever specifically said to tell you everything,” I said, and he breathed a sigh into my hair. 

“There’s my flippant Emma.” 

“You keep saying stuff like that and I’ll stop just to make you worry,” I threatened idly. 

“No, you won’t,” he said with surety and hugged me tightly. 

“No, I won’t,” I agreed. “How long did it take you to find me? After I fell out of the TARDIS?” 

“Twenty-five minutes and thirty-eight seconds.” I laughed. 

“Down to the second? You must have been frantic.” He chuckled as well and pressed another kiss to the top of my head. 

“I was,” he said, and I sighed. 

“We need to talk about what we’re going to do. About Anastasia and the poisoning,” I said and sat back from the Doctor a bit. 

“You should try and get more sleep,” he said as he brushed a curl out of my face. I shook my head. 

“No, I want to talk. There hasn’t been much conversation lately because Anastasia’s been so tired, and Dimitri always stands guard at the door so that no one tries to assassinate me or anything.” He flinched at that and grabbed for my hands. I had a feeling that we were both going to be a little clingy for the foreseeable future. 

“Emma, you should try,” he pleaded, and I shook my head again with a little more desperation. 

“No, because I’ll just dream another nightmare, or I’ll wake up and I’ll have dreamed you being here and I’m not sure which one would be worse.” I was starting to hyperventilate a bit by the end, so the Doctor cupped my face and shushed me. 

“Easy, Emma, easy. I won’t make you sleep then.” I took a deep shaky breath and nodded. 

“Did you talk to the court doctors?” I asked. “What are they giving her?” 

“Some kind of tonic that they said Ivan was finding for them. They’re not even sure what’s in it, apparently Ivan has some secret hidden advisor somewhere who’s mixing the tonic for him,” the Doctor said, and I sighed. 

“Well that explains the animosity they’ve all be showing me. They probably think I’m the secret advisor who’s stealing all their influence,” I said. The Doctor muttered something under his breath that I didn’t catch and rubbed my upper arm again. I assumed it had something to do with the court doctor who had given me a shove. 

“Any idea where this advisor might be?” He asked. 

“Since I’ve seen nothing beyond two rooms and a hallway for the past week, I’m going to say no.” He raised an eyebrow up at me. 

“No exploring? That doesn’t sound like you,” he said teasingly. I shrugged. 

“Well Ivan kind of put the fear of God into me when he almost ran me through when he first discovered me in Anastasia’s bedroom.” He chuckled, and I smiled at him. “See, I have self preservation.” 

“Not quite enough to make me happy,” he said. I reached up and rubbed my eyes. “Now will you try to sleep?” 

“Only if you stay,” I said immediately, and tried to ignore how childish I sounded. His face softened, and he nodded. 

“There is not a thing in this universe that could move me from this spot.” He lifted the blankets for me and tucked me in carefully and laid down next to me and grasped my hand in his. 

I didn’t realize that I hadn’t told the Doctor the whole truth until two seconds before I drifted to sleep.


	19. Chapter 18

“Promise me you will be careful,” Anastasia ordered after I had finished telling her about the Doctor and I’s plan to go sneaking around to try and figure out what was going on. 

“The Doctor won’t let anything bad happen to me. He’s probably having a case of the vapours just because we’re not in the same room,” I said. Anastasia laughed lightly and shook her head. 

“Men don’t get the vapours,” she protested. I laughed. 

“The Doctor does. He wanted to come with me this morning, but Dimitri said nothing good would happen if anyone saw.” Dimitri had told me that he was going to stay behind by my room to try and keep the Doctor calm. He’d decided this after he watched the Doctor jump and clench my arms when he opened the door this morning. I could tell Dimitri admired the Doctor for wanting to protect me so much. Anastasia studied me carefully. 

“I can already see that he is good for you. You no longer look dead on your feet.” 

“Thanks,” I said dryly, and she smiled at my sarcasm. There was a knock at the door and one of the court doctors bustled in. I shifted my gaze to the floor, curtsied and made a quick escape down the hallway. Dimitri sighed in relief when he saw me and loosened his shoulders. I walked a little faster so that I could take the Doctor off his hands because he could be a little overwhelming to the unfamiliar. I had just reached the door when it opened, and the Doctor sighed in relief at the sight of me and sagged against the door slightly. 

“Dramatic,” I said and shared an amused look with Dimitri. The Doctor frowned at me, so I stepped forward and grabbed his hand to soothe him. “Well I mean really that looked like a move out of a soap opera.” 

“Guard I am taking this woman with me to the apothecary in order to assist in Her Majesty’s recovery,” The Doctor announced loudly as the court doctor exited Anastasia’s room. I chomped down on my lip and shifted to look at him as he led me down the hallway after Dimitri had given him a salute. 

“That’s your brilliant idea?” I hissed under my breath. The Doctor looked down at me with an eyebrow raised. 

“I certainly wasn’t going to leave you behind.” I made a _well, duh_ face at him. “And I definitely wasn’t going to risk you being accused of sneaking away from your guard to poke around Ivan’s things.” 

“I probably shouldn’t ask, but do you have part of a plan?” I asked. The Doctor hesitated. 

“Well,” he drawled, and I shook my head while smiling. 

”You had part of a plan and now we’ve caught up to the parts that you had planned out?” 

“Well.” He dragged the word out longer this time and I pressed my fingers to my lips to muffle my laughter. He frowned at that and reached out and pulled my hand away from my face. 

“Don’t. You’ve never covered up your laugh and I don’t want you to start now,” he said. 

“I seem to recall the fact that my laughing almost got us both murdered by the Krillitanes,” I said. He lifted my hand and brushed a lingering kiss over my knuckles. 

“If your laughter is the last thing I hear it would be a worthy price to pay.” I rolled my eyes at him immediately even as I felt my cheeks heat in delight. 

“You have left a trail of broken hearts throughout history, haven’t you?” I asked. He scratched the back of his head guiltily and didn’t answer. I decided to take that as a yes. 

“I once got engaged by accident while visiting the Aztecs,” he admitted, and I burst out laughing, so surprised by his admission that I didn’t have time to try to catch my laughter with my hand. He gave me a victorious look. 

“Did you actually? How on Earth do you get engaged accidentally?” I tried to hold in the laughter, but it felt nice to feel safe enough to laugh. 

“I drank some hot chocolate.” I giggled again, and he flashed me a wink. “I was younger and more foolish.” 

“And I’m sure that was the last time since you’ve become so wise,” I said with a laugh. He affected a fake hurt look which made me laugh harder, which garnered the attention of a passing member of court. I flinched immediately and stopped. 

“Sorry bad habits,” I muttered at the Doctor’s look. He frowned harder. 

“Don’t tell me that laughing started fights,” he said. I looked away from him. 

“Okay then. I won’t.” He caught my hand in his and grumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t quite catch. I was beginning to think that he was swearing like a sailor in Gallifreyan but didn’t want me to know. 

“This looks promising,” he said suddenly and dragged me towards a door. I gave him a look as he fished out the sonic again. 

“You can never, ever again give me crap about anything that has to do with spontaneity,” I said before I nudged him to the side and plucked two hair pins from my hair while squatting down and slid them into the lock. 

“Where did you learn to do that?” the Doctor asked. 

“Dimitri taught me when I couldn’t stop shaking on night three,” I said and glanced up at him as the lock clicked. “You really need to consider fixing that whole ‘doesn’t do wood’ thing.” 

“I keep forgetting. Also, what happened to tell me everything?” He asked as he pulled me up to my feet. I shrugged. 

“I keep forgetting.” I burst out laughing at the decidedly unamused look on his face. He swung the door open and I tipped my head to the side as we walked in. 

“This is not what I was expecting,” I said as I took in the completely empty room. The Doctor looked at me surprised. 

“What do you mean? What else could you have expected?” He waved his hand out broadly in the general space of the room. I blinked at him. 

“Wait, is the room not empty for you?” I asked before I winced at how dumb that sounded out loud. “Okay never mind, it’s probably because of your superior brain compared to my little human one.” He beamed at me, so I decided to take that as a yes. 

“Would you like a boost?” He held his hand out to me and wiggled his fingers and eyebrows in tandem. I rolled my eyes slightly at this antics before nodding and leaning towards him. He smiled at me and pressed his fingers against my temple. I wondered if he actually had to do that or it was just a way of preparing people. 

“I need a connection with humans because you only have latent psychic abilities. But I suppose both is the most appropriate answer,” he said, and I blushed slightly. “Okay now blink.” 

“See now this is what I was expecting,” I announced after I had done as he said, and a bunch of laboratory tables and chemistry stuff appeared in the room. It looked like a mad alchemist’s lab in the movies. I pointed at a centrifuge sitting in the corner. “That is not historically accurate.” 

“Thanks,” he said dryly as he shut the door behind us. We wandered towards the centrifuge and the Doctor waved the sonic over it. “Not Earth accurate to be specific.” 

“Well unless you dropped it off there’s another alien here somewhere,” I said as I peered over his shoulder. He arched an eyebrow up at me over his shoulder and I realized how I had positioned myself out of the way without thinking about it. “Right, rule number two. I’m going to look at the chemistry stuff and see if I can find any labels.” 

I sorted glass vials into three groups of deadly, maybe deadly and not deadly while I listened to the Doctor coo over the centrifuge as he took it apart. My middle group was the biggest because it had been a long time since my last chemistry class and I couldn’t decipher the writing on all the labels. 

“What discoveries have you made?” I asked after he had put the centrifuge back together and came to stand next to me. 

“Definitely not from Earth, but not too horribly uncommon either. Probably from the twenty second century. You?” I explained my system and the Doctor started further sorting out my maybe deadly group and occasionally handing me a few vials to hold. 

“Why these?” I asked and hefted the vials in my hands carefully. 

“I’m fairly certain that mixed together with an assist from the centrifuge that these would combine into a mixture the exact same colour and smell of the tonic that the doctors were giving Anastasia,” he said. I rolled my eyes fondly as I propped my chin up on my palm. 

“Fairly certain, hey?” I grinned at his bemused fake hurt look. “I’m just going to throw the idea out there that I don’t think Ivan is purposefully poisoning his wife.” 

“Go on,” he said as he pulled his glasses out of his pocket and slid them on before starting to mix the chemicals together. I squinted at him suspiciously. 

“You totally wear those to make yourself look smarter.” The Doctor pursed his lips guiltily and I laughed. “You are such a dork.” 

“We were discussing your ideas about Ivan,” the Doctor prompted. 

“Well you sidetracked me. But yes, we were. I was thinking that he might not be knowingly doing it. Maybe its like mind control or demonic possession?” I mused. 

“Not hypnosis?” He asked idly. 

“Too boring,” I said. He laughed loudly. 

“I’ve ruined you,” he said and nudged me teasingly with his elbow. I grinned at him. 

“Yep. So, if the centrifuge is from the twenty second century does that mean this alien is also a time traveler?” I asked. The Doctor paused in his mixing to consider my question. 

“Possible, but I’d almost say unlikely. Time travelers generally aren’t content to linger in any place for too long. Get’s boring when you have so much to see and the ability to see it.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes fondly at him again. “They could have fallen through a time singularity while traveling elsewhere.” 

“And they just decided to poison the Tsarina for fun?” I asked with an arched eyebrow for emphasis. He scratched the back of his head. 

“Well, it’s a theory.” I tipped my head to the side and hummed an agreement. I reached up with my free hand and twirled a curl around my finger as the Doctor started to put his concoction into the centrifuge. 

“Does her death have to happen? Anastasia’s?” I asked, and the Doctor looked up at me. “Never mind. It’s just my human sentimentality.” 

“I will mind your human sentimentality because I’ve become very fond of it.” He frowned at me at this as if trying to ram the point home. “And no, her death isn’t a fixed point, but.” 

“But we got here too late to save her. She’s had too much poison at this point,” I said after the Doctor trailed off and looked at me sadly. Honestly, once you knew what to look for the man was an open book. 

“I’m sorry Emma.” His hands twitched like he wanted to cross the room and sweep me up in his arms but was concerned about overwhelming me. I shrugged and twirled the curl a little tighter, while I shifted my gaze to the table. 

“It was stupid of me to get attached. I should have known better. People leave when I get attached,” I said, and the Doctor threw his arms around me and squeezed me tightly. 

“I’m here. And I’m not leaving.” I reached up and grasped his forearm. 

“Thanks.” I leaned against his warmth slightly. “Your centrifuge is beeping.” 

“It’ll keep.”


	20. Chapter 19

“Part of me wants to ask if you have a plan,” I said after the Doctor had perfected his concoction. He looked up at me and wiggled his eyebrows. 

“And the other part?” He asked. 

“Knows that you don’t have it figured out.” I glanced at the window and winced at the darkness. “You should probably escort me back to Anastasia’s room before questions get asked.” 

“If only so that I know you’re safe while I do a bit more exploring,” he said and held his arm out to me. I took it and we stepped out into the hallway. 

“What exactly are you going to be looking for?” I asked. 

“Spaceship,” he said with a bright grin. 

“Of course,” I murmured under my breath as we walked past a serving girl. “Remind me to thank the TARDIS for the fact that the translation matrix still worked.” 

“I will,” he said as we came to a stop outside Anastasia’s room. Dimitri was standing guard outside and gave me a welcoming smile. The Doctor squeezed my hands, so I looked back at him. “Be careful.” 

“Says the man who’s about to go exploring to look for a spaceship,” I said before squeezing his hands back in promise that I would. Dimitri leaned his head close to mine as we watched the Doctor walk further down the hallway. 

“The doctors gave Her Majesty her medicine about twenty minutes ago. She’s been sleeping most of the day,” he said, and I smiled so that I wouldn’t do something rash. 

“Thank you, Dimitri,” I said and pushed the door open gently before creeping to the side of the bed. I picked up Anastasia’s hand and shoved down on the sadness as she stirred weakly. 

“We were careful,” I said teasingly, and she laughed. 

“I knew your Doctor wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Even without your reassurances. He looked as if he would drop to his knees and beg for your forgiveness about all the pain you had already suffered.” I smiled. 

“He would too. He’s dramatic enough for it.” I brushed a few strands of hair off her forehead. 

“I’m surprised he didn’t whisk you away once he found you.” 

“Wouldn’t let him. I’ve grown attached to you,” I said, and she laughed breathlessly. 

“Has anyone ever told you how delightfully selfless you are?” She sat up and looked at me with the most clarity I’d seen in days. “Because you are and that should be appreciated. Don’t ever let anyone or anything crush your light, your empathy.” 

“I won’t.” I promised. “Besides if I forget the Doctor will remind me.” She gave me a smile and I helped her shift so that she was laying down a bit more. 

“Would you stay for a while, Emma?” She asked after we had settled her in and I nodded. 

“Do you want another story?” I asked as I sat on the side of the bed next to her. She hummed in agreement, so I launched into the full story of the Doctor’s accidental Aztec engagement that he had told me as he fussed with his mixture of chemicals. Anastasia dropped off about halfway through, but I decided I would keep sitting with her for a while since I’d ignored her for most of the day because I’d been with the Doctor. I stood up when the door opened and stiffened when Ivan walked through. 

“Good evening Your Majesty,” I said quietly as I curtsied. Ivan closed the door firmly and slid the lock into place before turning around. 

“Is that really who you think I am?” He asked, and it almost sounded like he had two voices speaking at once. I straightened myself up and fisted my hands into my sides so that he couldn’t see the fact that they’d started to shake when he locked the door. 

“Physically, Yes. Mentally, no.” Ivan tilted his head to the side and lifted a gun from his side and pointed it at me. The Doctor was going to kill me, provided of course that Ivan didn’t shoot me. 

“So astute for a human,” he mused. I shrugged. 

“I got a bit of a boost,” I said as I watched Ivan lower himself into the chair in the corner of the room that I hated because it was superbly uncomfortable. As soon as he sat down a blue humanoid stood up and took a few steps forward. I noted that they were still holding the gun and bit my lip to hold down my sigh. I’d been kind of hoping that they would have forgotten to keep holding on to it. 

“How did you get here?” I asked to kill time, because at some point the Doctor or Dimitri were going to realize that the door was locked and wonder why. Or Ivan was going to wake up and things were going to get difficult. 

“My ship flew too close to a black hole and when I broke free of the gravitational pull I was thrown through time until I landed here. Then I decided to inhabit the Tsar until I thought of something better,” they explained. 

“And something better was poisoning his wife?” I asked a little acidly. They took a step forward and I tried not to flinch. 

“Something to pass the time. I suppose I should also admit that the long-term habitation will leave its scars on his mind.” They narrowed their eyes at me. “Does that bother you?” 

“It certainly answers a few historical questions,” I said before taking a deep breath and trying to let out some tension with it. “We can take you home.” 

“What makes you think you can do that?” They asked. 

“I can’t, but the Doctor, the guy who I’m traveling with, can. He drives, but he won’t mind me offering,” I said and tried to ignore the fact that it sounded like I was back in university trying to talk a drunk girl into getting into a cab. 

“Maybe I should assure his cooperation with you at gunpoint,” they said. 

“Honestly, that would probably deter the Doctor from wanting to help you.” I sucked in a deep breath between my teeth as they took a few steps forward. “He’s not a fan of guns.” 

“Maybe I should just shoot you and steal your ship.” They tilted the gun slightly, like they were trying to intimidate me into telling them where the TARDIS was, and I shrugged as casually as I could manage. 

“Well, firstly, I don’t know where the Doctor parked and secondly, I don’t think the TARDIS will let you get away with that.” If she’d bothered to make sure I didn’t disintegrate in time vortex, I was pretty sure she wasn’t going to just let me get shot outside the doors. “Also, I don’t have a key to get in.” 

“Pardon me, but I think I should return Lady Emma to her room,” Dimitri announced as he pushed the door open and knocked gently. I shot him a wild look, unsure if I was telling him to help me or run away. Dimitri made the decision for me as the alien took a step forward and Dimitri launched himself at the alien. They grappled for the gun as I scrambled backwards until I bumped into the bed just as the gun fell and clattered across the floor. I looked down and kicked it under the bed and when I glanced up Dimitri was pulling a dagger out of the alien’s stomach. 

“Go find the Doctor, my Doctor. Tell him what happened,” I ordered to Dimitri as I knelt down next to the alien and grabbed their hand. They grasped it almost instinctively as I watched Dimitri leave the room and shut the door firmly behind him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to happen this way.” 

“You were so afraid the whole time you were here. I could tell.” It didn’t really sound like a question, but I answered anyways. 

“Yes. I was.” They looked at me and they seemed afraid, so I squeezed their hand and swallowed against the tears that were welling up in my throat. 

“How did you manage it?” They asked. 

“I pretended I wasn’t terrified whenever it mattered and didn’t pretend when it didn’t,” I said as a tear slid down my cheek. 

“I should have liked to see the stars once more.” They let out one final exhale and their whole body seemed to shatter into nothingness just as the door swung open again. I looked up at the Doctor and he had his arms around me in an instant. 

“Emma, it’s alright. I’m here it’s alright. Can you tell me what happened?” The Doctor asked so I haltingly told him what had happened that Dimitri had probably missed when he wasn’t in the room. The Doctor smoothed his thumb over my cheek rhythmically as I talked, and I leaned into it tiredly. 

“Why do I let you out of my sight?” He teased lightly, and I smiled. 

“I’ll have you know that nothing like this happened until the day you showed up, so I think it’s your presence.” He beamed at me in response and I realized that he’d been hoping I’d say something like that. 

“Lady Emma should not be here when His Majesty wakes,” Dimitri said which broke the little moment that the Doctor and I had been stuck in. I nodded and clambered up from the floor while trying to wipe the tears away as I reached for the bed. 

“I just need to say goodbye to Anastasia.” I fisted my hand in the bed cover and breathed a sigh of relief as it hit me that she’d managed not to wake up during the whole debacle that had just happened. The Doctor nodded gently. 

“Yeah of course.” I sat down on the side of the bed and shook her awake gently. She smiled at me slowly before she frowned. 

“You’re crying.” I sniffled and smiled. 

“I am. I have to go, and I don’t want to say goodbye.” Anastasia smiled at me again and reached out to squeeze my hand as tightly as she could manage. 

“So, don’t say goodbye to me. Say farewell and go tell the future hello for me.” I laughed as I bent over so I could press a lingering kiss to her cheek. 

“Farewell then Anastasia Romanova.” 

“Farewell Emma Bradley.” I stood up and the Doctor wrapped a hand around my elbow and led me out into the hallway. I stepped away from him and wrapped my arms around Dimitri tightly. 

“Farewell Dimitri Vladimov. Thank you for everything.” 

“Farewell Lady Emma.” We nodded at each other as the Doctor shook his hand and thanked him for keeping me out of trouble before he started leading me down the hallway. I reached up and tried to scrub the tears away with my sleeve. 

“It’s stupid to cry,” I muttered, and the Doctor shook his head and looped his arm around my waist so that I was tucked against him. 

“No, it’s not.” Then he looked down at my dress like he was seeing it for he first time. “What happened to your clothes?” 

“Burned them on night four because Dimitri and I were concerned someone was going to find them and have weird questions,” I said honestly. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head just as we rounded one final corner and the TARDIS came into sight. I pressed my forehead against the door and smiled while the Doctor fished out his key. 

“Hey, Old Girl, thanks for making sure I didn’t die, and I didn’t have to learn Russian on the fly,” I whispered, and it honestly felt like the TARDIS was hugging me. I stumbled into the console room and rubbed my eyes as all the exhaustion from the past week hit me all at once now that I was in a safe place. 

“Tired,” I mumbled while the Doctor led me down the hallway to my room and then stopped dead as he opened the door. “Woah.” 

“I told you she felt awful,” the Doctor said as I took in the fact that both my room and my bed had doubled in size and new books and book shelves had appeared to line one of the walls and I noticed that I now had an attached bathroom. “Do you want help with your dress?” 

I squinted up at him before deciding that even if his intentions weren’t pure, I was too tired to care so I nodded and turned my back to him. He made quick work of the laces and ties and pulled a nightgown over my head as soon as the dress dropped to the floor. I climbed into bed and pulled the covers up and was just about to ask the Doctor to stay when he spoke. 

“Do you mind if I keep the nightmares at bay?” I rolled to the other side of the bed and lifted the covers up in invitation. 

“Yeah of course you can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So historical fact time; Anastasia Romanovna was the first wife of Ivan the Terrible and she did die very young. Her last name did eventually become the name of the Romanov Dynasty who ruled Russia from 1613-1918 (the way that all happened was messy and I'm not going to go into it but I definetley encourage you to read into it).  
> And Ivan really did think that she had been poisoned, it was discovered by archaeologists that she had high levels of mercury in her hair.  
> But debate remains whether she was actually poisoned or whether the mercury was simply a cure because old fashioned medicine sometimes didn't get stuff right lol.


	21. Chapter 20

“Typus Seven!” The Doctor announced as he opened the door and threw his arm out dramatically. I giggled at his antics and peered out into the street. 

“So why not Typus One through Six?” I asked as I stepped out and the Doctor shut the door behind us. 

“Typus One, Two, Four, and Five are uninhabitable. Typus Three is habitable, but is in the middle of an Ice Age and I don’t want you getting hypothermia.” He tapped the tip of my nose which I crinkled up at because it tickled slightly while smiling at him and held up six fingers. 

“That accounts for everything, but Typus Six,” I stated. 

“I’m not exactly welcome,” he said, and I laughed. 

“Of course. I don’t know what I was expecting really.” I laughed harder as the Doctor placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt. He grinned widely at me in response. 

“When are we relative to Earth time?” I asked while rocking back and forth on the balls of my feet and looking at the buildings. 

“Right before the Great Fire of London,” he said and gave me a little glance. “Which I had nothing to do with.” 

“That’s not true! Your sonic screwdriver broke when you were dealing with the Teriliptils.” He froze and looked at me with a faint look of horror dawning in his eyes. 

“How did you know that?” I bit my lip and looked down at the street. 

“The TARDIS told me,” I admitted softly not looking up until I heard him rapping his knuckles against the TARDIS. 

“How am I supposed to be mysterious if you keep telling her all my stories, Old Girl?” He asked teasingly before narrowing his eyes at me. “What else has she told you?” 

“I’ll never tell,” I said loftily before my face split in a huge grin. He laughed before he gave me a bow suitable for 1600’s Earth and held out his elbow. 

“Just around the corner from here is arguably the best hot chocolate in the universe, may I have the honour of escorting you?” I laughed before I curtsied and looped my elbow with his. 

“You may good sir.” 

As we walked, he told me about the humanoid population who were slightly time sensitive because there was a very small rift in time and space that ran along the planet like an equator. He told me about the way that the monarchy worked and how their version of science incorporated a hint of magic. 

“I love it when you take me places like this,” I said as I snuggled closer to the Doctor as a light mist started to fall over the city. He chuckled and pushed some of my curls away from my face. 

“I’m glad,” he said softly as he dropped my arm from his elbow as we came outside the café in question. I grabbed him just as he was about to step away from me. 

“Do you think we could get the hot chocolate to go so that we can keep walking?” I asked and he nodded. 

“Of course, we can.” He dropped a kiss to my forehead. “Wait here.” 

The instant the Doctor ducked into the café the street filled with people so I shuffled backwards a few steps to be out of the way and to get a good vantage point for people watching. I’d been expecting the populace to be wearing clothes that looked like they came from the relative Earth period, but instead they were wearing outfits more like a Greek Chiton. I mused briefly on the dichotomy between the outfits and the European style buildings before I was cut off by someone bumping into me. 

“By the Tear,” the man murmured, looking like he’d just seen a ghost. I opened my mouth to apologize, but was cut off by the man whistling sharply. At the noise half the people placed their carts so that the road was blocked. The man grabbed me and three more men approached me with their hands outstretched. 

“Doctor!” I screamed and lashed out towards the closest man. I screamed again as they lifted me off the ground and I kicked out with my foot, feeling a vicious satisfaction at the wet crunching sound, before the other men caught my legs as well. They started carrying me down the street as the people started scrambling off the streets. 

“Emma!” I saw the Doctor come skidding out of the café and whip his head around over the crowd. 

“Doctor!” He spun in my direction and I could see the panic brewing in his expression just as I was carried around the corner and dropped down a very large drain. 

“Let go of me!” I ordered to the new people who were holding me as darkness fell over us as someone slid a cover over the drain. 

“Quiet.” A woman bit out and I frowned towards her voice. 

“I damn well will not be quiet when I have just been abducted! Now Let Go of Me!” I lashed out again with all my limbs and the men holding me lowered me down slowly. My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness so I could pinpoint the people I was glaring at a little more accurately. 

“We just saved your life,” the man standing next to the woman muttered darkly. 

“From hot Chocolate?!” I shrieked as I tossed my hands up in the air. If they had expected me to be a meek, cowering little thing then they were very mistaken because I wasn’t sure that I had ever been so angry in my entire life. 

“If a blonde woman is seen then she will go missing and never be seen again. Especially in this city,” the woman explained. I crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow up at the cluster of people. 

“And you thought kidnapping me was the solution to that?” I clarified and a few of them shuffled awkwardly. 

“You look remarkably like the Queen,” the man who had whistled said. 

“And!?!” I demanded as I threw my hands up in the air again. 

“The Queen went missing ten years ago.” I stared at them for a few moments. 

“You cannot seriously think that I’m the Queen.” 

“Of course not,” the woman said as if I was an idiot and what little hold I still had on my temper snapped like a cord. 

“Then why the bloody hell am I standing in a sewer system after I was snatched off the street simply because I had the utter gall to walk down the road!?!” I sucked in an angry breath and held up a hand when someone opened their mouth. “Have you just been grabbing all the blonde girls off the street for ten years on the off chance that they are actually the Queen under the pretense of saving their lives? And dare I ask what happened to them when they weren’t physically close enough to this bloody monarch?” 

“She’s got fire in her,” one of the men stated and another one chuckled. 

“She broke Dom’s nose.” 

“And I bloody well will not apologize for that either,” I added tartly. A bout of laughter broke out and the woman stepped forwards. 

“I’m Liv. I would be very pleased to tell you everything as soon as we’re no longer standing in a sewer system.” I studied her for a moment before I sighed. I knew that the Doctor was probably panicking right now, which would undoubtedly not end well, but I also knew that I had no way to contact him. I also had no idea if he had even seen me get dropped down into the sewer or if he had just whipped around the corner to an empty street. 

“I want to know everything so you might as well start now.” Liv arched an eyebrow up at me in surprise. I shrugged. “In for a penny.” 

“It all started ten years ago when the Queen fell ill which was only a few weeks before she went missing.” 

“How exactly does an ill queen go missing?” I asked. 

“When royalty fall ill they are put into a coma so that the illness passes extremely quickly and so that if greater measures are required they can be enacted immediately,” one of the men who’d caught me explained. He must have noticed me squinting at him curiously because he lifted his hand and waved his fingers at me. “I’m Jon.” 

“So, someone literally stole the Queen,” I clarified. Jon and Liv nodded in synch. 

“The King fell apart, and quite frankly hasn’t bothered to put himself together,” Liv said. 

“He’s been pretty useless actually,” Jon added as he leaned in from Liv’s other side. Liv swatted him across his upper arm. 

“His advisor, Raq, has basically been ruling since then, and it hasn’t been great.” 

“Abysmal,” Jon interjected. Another older man stepped forward to get between Liv and Jon. 

“Jon, I think if you make another comment Liv will strangle you.” He gave me a wink and I bit on my lip so that I wouldn’t giggle. Now that I’d gotten past the anger regarding my kidnapping they seemed like good people. 

“I’m Dav.” 

“Emma,” I said after I realized that I hadn’t introduced myself to them yet. Then again, some of them might have heard the Doctor screaming my name, but manners still mattered. 

“Either way, after Raq took over he started using the King’s Guard to ‘search for the Queen’ by asking blonde females into the palace to make sure that they weren’t the Queen. None of them came back so we started gathering.” Liv waved her hand widely at the company of people. 

“You started a resistance because blonde females were going missing because someone stole the Queen.” Jon made a face at my statement. 

“It sounds weird when you say it like that.” Dav chuckled at Jon’s protests. 

“Taxes also increased and a multitude of unrealistic new laws were put into place. Liv is trying not to bore you with the socioeconomic issues.” Dav grinned widely at me when I blinked at him. “I teach.” 

“What do I have to do with this?” I asked. Liv and John made a sympathetic face. 

“That has to do with the fact that you look so much like the Queen,” Dav said. I arched a brow up before I gestured for them to go on. I was interested, more or less involved, and had a pretty good idea that getting more involved was a sure-fire way to find the Doctor. 

“You don’t have to,” Jon said instantly. 

“Just tell me. Please?” I asked dryly. Liv sucked in a breath. 

“Since you look so alarmingly like the Queen, we were all thinking that you could impersonate her to distract the King and Raq,” Liv explained with a sour look on her face, as if she hated the plan. 

“Impersonate the Queen?” I asked and Jon nodded with a similar sour face. I looked at Dav. “To distract the King and his advisor?” 

“That’s about the size of it,” Dav said. I pinched the bridge of my nose and considered all the information I’d been given. 

“Am I distracting the King and his advisor while you and the rest of your group storm the castle?” 

“By the Tear no! We need a distraction to smuggle the Queen into the medical centre in the palace,” Dav said. 

“You found the Queen?” I asked incredulously and Liv nodded as she pushed open a door to the side. I blinked at the enclosed hospital bed that rested in the middle of the room surrounded by assorted medical equipment. 

“We found her here about four years after she went missing. We would have revived her, but we can’t unless we have the equipment in the palace. So, we’ve been waiting for an opportunity,” Liv said. I walked over to the side of bed and peered in at the Queen. I blinked in shock as I took in my physical doppelganger, except for the fact that her hair had more of a copper tinge than mine. 

“Holy shit. She does look like me.”


	22. Chapter 21

“Does it have to be pink?” I asked as Liv pulled out the dress that I was to wear to distract the King and Raq. Liv laughed at my twisted face. 

“It’s the only one we have I’m afraid,” she said. 

“I suppose it’s understandable that a revolution hiding underground would only have one dress,” I said as I sighed and held my hands out for the dress. I’d hated pink since I was little, after my Mom and Dad had an awful fight about whether it was cruel or not to force me to dress like a little lady. Jon smirked at me as he took a step forward. 

“We stole it from the palace. You know in case this plan ever panned out,” Jon said. I shot him a look. 

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better,” I said sharply as I stepped behind the blanket that they had drawn up for privacy. 

“In this instance, I think it should make you feel better,” Dav said while I pulled off my t-shirt. “We needed something that had an emotional attachment for the King.” I stood upright so that I could look at them over the blanket as my heart skipped a few beats. 

“Please tell me that this is not the Queen’s wedding dress,” I begged softly, because wearing another woman’s wedding dress to distract her husband was a line that I was not willing to cross. Liv must have noticed how horrified I looked because she shook her head instantly. 

“No of course not. She was wearing this when the King proposed to her,” Liv said. My shoulder’s sagged in relief and I gave her a smile before I ducked back down to step into the dress. 

“I’m good, but I am not good enough to smuggle the Queen’s wedding dress out of the palace,” Jon said which made me laugh despite my nerves. Jon was the one who was going to make sure I got into the palace unseen until I needed to be. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and a new girl walked in. 

“Sorry to interrupt Liv, but Stev’s causing trouble.” Liv’s face pinched in what looked like exhaustion and pain as she started towards the door and I got the feeling that Stev caused a lot of trouble. 

“I’m coming with you,” Jon said and leaped to Liv’s side. Liv passed him a thankful smile. 

“Who’s Stev?” I asked after the door closed behind them. Dav sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. 

“He’s a bit of a hothead who thinks that we should be storming the castle to overthrow the monarchy,” Dav said. “He gained a few fellow hotheaded followers over the years who haven’t enjoyed the long game that Liv’s been playing.” 

“You don’t agree with him?” I asked. Dav chuckled and shook his head. 

“We’ve had a monarchy for the whole of recorded history. If we overthrew the monarchy the only thing it would lead to would be anarchy.” I nodded. 

“It certainly didn’t work for the French,” I mumbled to myself as I tied the last ribbon on the dress. 

“The French?’ Dav asked and I gave him a sheepish smile. I’d been trying to keep from making too many references to Earth history in case it messed something up in some other planet’s history. The Doctor said that was ridiculous, but those sci-fi movies that Lillian and I watched all the time had really ingrained the habit into my brain. 

“France is a country where I’m from and they had a revolution where they overthrew the monarchy. It was immediately followed by what people call the Reign of Terror where they executed several hundred people before they elected an emperor,” I explained. 

“That’s almost exactly what I’m afraid of,” Dav said darkly before a gunshot echoed into the room from the hall. Dav and I shared a horrified glance before we ran out of the room. 

When we threw the door open we came upon two groups who had guns pointed at each other. There was a considerable amount of dust floating through the air now, so I assumed that someone had taken a pot shot at the ceiling. 

“Put your guns down!” I ordered harshly before I could think better of it. Several heads snapped towards me and a few guns twitched towards the floor as a few whispers flew around the room. Jon’s face paled while another man’s face twisted harshly. 

“This is your brilliant plan then?” The man demanded to Liv and I went out on a limb and assumed that this was Stev. 

“And what is your brilliant plan? If you have one that is,” I challenged. A gasp went around the room and Liv shook her head at me. 

“What do you know?” Stev asked and I pushed my shoulders back and straightened to my full height. 

“I know what overthrowing the monarchy will do to your planet. Because you know what’s going to happen?” I waved my hand around the room sharply. “This is going to happen. Your little resistance will tear itself in half and then your planet will follow and it won’t be a revolution anymore. It will be a civil war. And this is what civil war will be; shooting your friends, your neighbors, your family.” I looked around the room and saw that quite a few people had put their guns away. 

“Also, there’s the fact that only one side in a civil war can win, and history is written by the victors. You will either go down in history as a hero who freed the populace from their oppressors, or you will forever be the man who caused thousands to die. All those deaths will be laid at your feet. To say nothing of the fact that you clearly have no idea how your planet is going to run itself after,” I snapped. Liv took a step forward towards Stev with her hand outstretched. 

“She’s right. And besides, things weren’t so bad when the King was actually in power. Now we have the chance to make things better. Take it with me,” Liv said. Stev looked between Liv’s face and hand a few times before he lowered his gun and stepped forward to grasp her hand. 

“We have to make it better Liv. We have to make it better for Tali,” Stev said and Liv nodded before she tugged on his hand so that it was cupping her cheek. 

“We will, but we have to do it together.” Stev nodded at Liv’s words before he took another step towards her. 

“Then let’s go plan together.” I watched them walk off with their people following behind them. Dav came up beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. 

“That was brave,” he said, and I let out a huge gust of air and folded in half to rest my hands on my knees which were beginning to shake. The Doctor was going to be absolutely furious when I told him what I’d done. Getting myself kidnapped and then goading a room full of people with guns was probably a little too much his style for his liking. 

“That was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done. I think I need to sit down.” I laughed weakly with a hint of hysteria slipping into it. Dav wrapped his free hand around my elbow like he was getting ready to catch me if my knees failed me. “What just happened between Liv and Stev?” 

“They’re married.” I gave Jon a wide-eyed stare. “Their daughter Tali was one of the first girls who went missing.” 

“Didn’t I say tell me everything? I feel like that’s a pretty big piece of information that not a single one of you mentioned,” I said, and Jon shrugged while Dav gave my shoulder a squeeze. I must have still sounded a little hysterical. 

“Wasn’t really our place and talking about it hurts Liv. That’s how we found the Queen, Liv and Stev were looking for Tali. These tunnels were part of a dungeon system several hundred years ago,” Jon said. I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds until I felt a little more stable. 

“Okay that’s fair. Should we go join the conversation?” I asked and waved towards the door that everyone had walked through. Dav gave me a smile. 

“I’m sure everyone is waiting to see the girl who just stood her ground in a potential war zone,” he said. I squeaked slightly as I stood up and squeezed Dav’s hand. 

“Please don’t phrase it like that. It makes me sound like I have no self preservation.” Lillian was absolutely going to murder me for this too, provided the Doctor didn’t wrap me up in bubble wrap and hide me somewhere in the TARDIS. 

“I trust you Liv. I’m just being cautious about this girl who you’ve apparently swung to our cause in a matter of minutes.” Stev was saying as we walked through the door. A poignant silence fell over the room and I wondered idly if this is what it felt like to be actual royalty. 

“Perfectly logical of you Stev. I do have my own motives for helping you. But you’re welcome to ask me about them,” I said pointedly as I walked up to him as casually as I could manage since my heart was still hammering away somewhere in my esophagus. Stev arched an eyebrow up at me. 

“Go on then.” I sighed before accepting that I probably wouldn’t get anything better. 

“My friend, the Doctor who I’m travelling with, is undoubtedly worried out of his mind by my kidnapping, but unfortunately I don’t have a way to contact him. However, I know his character and getting involved is a sure-fire way to bump into him. As a matter of fact, I’d wager some pretty good money that he’s currently in the palace as we speak. Plus, your cause is a good one,” I said. Jon beamed at me from Liv’s shoulder. Stev studied me slowly before he nodded, seemingly happy with my answer, and looked down at the paper where everyone must have been discussing the plan. 

“Liv, I don’t think your plan is enough. Close, but not quite enough.” Liv crowded in close to Stev and several people began to discuss different options. I drifted over to stand next to Jon so that I was out of the way, but still involved. 

“If we organized a rally outside the palace gates that would probably be enough to ensure that all eyes would be there instead of the two smuggling parties.” Several nods went around the room while other brows furrowed in thought. 

“We don’t have the time to organize a rally. Whatever is happening has to happen today.” Liv spread her hands against the table thoughtfully. 

“We may not need a full rally. Even a small protest may grow enough to garner attention,” she said and Stev nodded. 

“We’ve got enough people here to get a good start and I’m sure others will join. They have in the past.” They stared at each other for a few moments and seemed to have a silent conversation before they both nodded at the same time. I wondered if that was what the Doctor and I were like to outside viewers and immediately blushed at the thought. We weren’t even close to something like being married and I wasn’t sure the Doctor would know how to feel about the comparison. 

“So that’s the plan then,” they both said at the exact same time and looked over at me. 

“Great. Hope we have fun storming the castle,” I said dryly. Jon and Dav gave me a funny look. “It’s a saying where I’m from.” 

They must have both decided to ignore me because they simply held out a cloak and made sure that any discernable features were hidden and instructed me to hold it closed so that no one would be able to see the dress I was wearing. Stev and the group that was to rally at the palace gates left with little formality beyond a few handshakes and forehead presses. 

“Isn’t the whole point of smuggling to not be seen?” I asked, and Jon shrugged as he fussed with the hood. 

“A good smuggler always has a contingency plan.” He said as he stepped back, and Liv reached out a hand and grasped mine tightly before she nodded at Jon. Jon grabbed my elbow and led me out into the dungeon and deeper than I had been previously. 

“Please tell me that these were only ever dungeons and not like a crypt or something,” I said after Jon had lit a torch when we ran out of natural light and weird shadows started to dance across the walls. 

“They were only ever dungeons.” He sent me a wide grin. “And I’m not saying that just to make you feel better.” 

“Thanks Jon.” We walked in silence for a few more minutes and I tried not to be freaked out by the fact that we were walking under the street, considering I did it all the time when I rode the tube. 

“What makes you so sure that your friend is going to be in the palace?” He asked, and I laughed. 

“He’s had several hundred years to perfect the art of getting involved in messes, so I think its just automatic for him to head for the government. Also, he’s kind of over protective, which I do not blame him for, so I’m sure he dramatically burst into the throne room demanding to know how to get me back,” I explained, and Jon laughed. 

“He sounds like a handful.” I grinned and nodded. 

“He is, but he’s my handful and I’ve gotten pretty good at handling him.” It took me approximately three seconds to realize that I had practically just claimed the Doctor not a half hour after casually thinking about him and marriage and blushed hard. I flailed mentally in my embarrassment for a minute or two before I remembered that he referred to me as his companion, so I suppose that doing the same to him wasn’t that bad. 

“Are you okay?” Jon asked after we slowed to a stop in front of a door. I realized I had my hands wrapped so tightly in my cloak that my knuckles were white. 

“Just trying not to freak out before I go distract the King and his advisor,” I muttered and unclenched my fingers. “Please whatever happens do not let me get executed.” 

“But of course.” Jon flashed me a salute with a bright grin. “I’ll break you out of prison if you get arrested too.” I laughed heartily and hugged him. 

“Thanks Jon.” Then I stepped to the side so that he could push the door open and I ducked my head down so that I wouldn’t gape at the castle and risk being seen too early. I counted to twenty out of order so that I wouldn’t freak out as Jon knocked on the door of the throne room and pushed the door open. 

“Who dares enter without invitation?” A man dressed in all black asked as we walked in. I guessed that he was Raq the advisor, since there was a man sitting on a throne looking despondent. John stepped to the side wordlessly and I caught sight of the Doctor looking furious behind Raq, like he’d just been arguing. 

“I found something that belongs to His Majesty,” Jon said with a flowery bow and I pushed the cloak hood back so that it fell onto my back. The Doctor’s face switched from furious to shocked relief in a heartbeat as the King jumped up from his throne and Raq took a step back from me. 

“Via!” The King cried delightedly and moved towards me quickly. 

“Emma!?” The Doctor said. I looked at the King and smiled as he grasped my forearms. 

“Hello,” I said. The Doctor and Raq were both sputtering behind him, which I would have found funny if not for the fact that the King looked like he was going to go in for a kiss. I twisted so that his lips landed on my cheek. 

“Via where have you been? It’s been ten years since you disappeared.” Raq took a step forward with a suspicious look on his face at the King’s words. 

“This woman is not your wife Your Majesty. The colour of her hair is not accurate.” The Doctor, brilliant man that he was, stepped forwards as well with a knowing look in his eyes. 

“She’s probably seen more sun than she was previously used to and simply lightened her hair with it,” he said and Raq whirled to glare at him. 

“Then why did you call her by the name of your companion?” he hissed, and the Doctor shrugged. 

“A trick of the light. I only thought it was Emma.” I owed the Doctor hugely because he had dragged the King’s attention away from me. 

“I feared you lost from me forever,” the King said and squeezed my forearms tightly. “I feared that those who opposed me would show me proof of your death today.” I gave him a weak smile and realized that I should have asked how the Queen talked before I agreed to this. 

“Who could oppose you?” I asked lightly. Raq flinched in the corner of my eye and the Doctor raised an eyebrow up at him. I filed his reaction away in the back of my mind. 

“There are protests at the gate on an almost daily basis. There is one happening now, the biggest in ten years.” 

“What could the people be protesting?” I asked, and the King released me with a sigh. 

“You always did care more than I expected you to.” The King gave me a grin and I plastered a smile on my face, so I wouldn’t roll my eyes or do something worse. “Some women have been going missing and they somehow expect me to fix it.” 

“Your Majesty, there is a difference between a few missing girls and girls consistently going missing over ten years where the only common denominator between them is blonde hair,” the Doctor interjected and Raq flashed him a look. I gave the Doctor an apologetic look myself because he’d probably had a conniption when he’d heard that. The King waved his hand. 

“I’m sure if it had been important Raq would have notified me. I have been too consumed in my grief for you, my dearest Via, to notice such petty instances.” 

“Petty instances?” I repeated incredulously before I could stop myself and winced at my blunder. I was just about to flash the Doctor a look for some help when the door flew open again and Liv, Dav and the Queen walked in. Silence stretched for a few seconds before a mixed cacophony began. 

The Queen and King practically flew into each others’ arms with shouts of joy, while Raq, Dav and Jon somehow got involved in an argument as Liv opened the window to signal Stev and the Doctor walked up to me with a serious, relieved look on his face. 

“Where have you been?” He asked, and I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“Where have I been?!” I repeated incredulously. “Where the hell have you been!?”


	23. Chapter 22

“I asked first,” the Doctor said petulantly and crossed his arms. I rolled my eyes and sighed before starting to speak. 

“Got kidnapped by the resistance, volunteered to help the resistance, stopped the resistance from dissolving into a civil war, smuggled myself into the castle to distract the King and his advisor so that the resistance could revive the Queen.” I ticked off a finger for each new thing and then looked at the Doctor. “You?” 

“Trying to find you and making sure that Raq doesn’t talk the King into wiping out the resistance with the use of the King’s guard,” He paused and blinked at me. 

“Wait did you say you stopped a civil war? How did you do that?” I winced and bit my lip. 

“You don’t want to know.” His eyes narrowed and he took a step forward. 

“Emma,” he said warningly. I sighed as I tried to think of a way to phrase this so that it didn’t seem like such an issue. 

“There might have been two parties with guns pointed at each other that I might have gotten in the middle of before I verbally told them what would happen if they started shooting,” I said quickly trying to get it over with like ripping off a band aid. The Doctor’s head fell backwards and he groaned loudly as he ran a hand over his face. 

“I told you that you didn’t want to know. You should have trusted me,” I said with a slightly guilty smile. He shot me a look through his fingers that I couldn’t quite understand. 

“Why do I let you out of my sight?” He asked and I crossed my arms over my chest in fake petulance. 

“I could ask you the same question.” I noticed that the King and Queen had separated from their reunion slightly so I tilted my head towards them and smiled a too sweet smile. 

“You know I was wondering if you had come to the same conclusions about the Queen’s kidnapping as I had, Doctor?” I asked as though we were still having our own conversation, except for the part that I’d said it a touch too loud which had garnered everyone’s attention. The Doctor’s face light up and he gave me a wide conspiratorial grin. 

“The conclusion that the Queen’s kidnapper had to have been a high-ranking palace staff with intimate knowledge of the old dungeon system to get her out of the palace without being seen?” He clarified at the same volume and I nodded while grinning at the fact that we were on the same page. A rush of murmurs flew through the room. 

“Yes, that conclusion exactly,” I said. “Obviously you’ve also considered the fact that it would also be someone who had something to gain from the Queen’s disappearance and the King’s emotional retreat as a result.” 

“Obviously,” the Doctor said before pivoting on his heel to face the royal couple. He took a few steps forward and I tried to decrease my smile slightly so that it seemed a little less smug. “Raq, any thoughts?” 

“It seems plausible,” Raq said slowly as his eyes shifted around the room. The Doctor hummed thoughtfully before he pivoted to face me again. 

“The Queen’s kidnapper would also reasonably be in such a position to order the King’s Guard to make sure that no blonde women were around to give the King false hope about the return of his wife. Does that sound right Emma?” He asked and I pursed my lips while I pretended to think it over. 

“Sounds about right to me Doctor,” I said. He gave me an even wider grin as he pivoted again as Raq looked around the room again and everyone’s eyes fell on him. 

“And that’s not even mentioning the extreme taxation legislation that was passed without the King’s knowledge, most of which I’m sure didn’t reach the treasury,” I added. The Doctor shot me a wink over his shoulder. The Queen gasped and covered her mouth with her hand as the King took a step forward. 

“Raq are these accusations true?” The King asked. I knew we had Raq cornered metaphorically when a look descended on his face as if he was trying to decide between fight or flight. 

“Raq?” The Queen echoed weakly. Raq’s hands clenched at his side. 

“You did this to yourselves,” he said darkly and several things happened instantaneously. 

One of Raq’s fists disappeared into his coat and withdrew a gun which he aimed in the direction of the Doctor as the King shouted for the guards while the Queen and I screamed in chorus as Raq fired. Then for a moment everything was still before the Doctor laughed. 

“Ha! You missed!” The Doctor bounced on his feet daringly. 

“I never miss,” Raq sneered as the guards grabbed his arms and wrenched the gun out of his hand. I swallowed slowly as my hand drifted down to my side. 

“I don’t think he missed,” I said. 

The Doctor whirled around with horror on his face as I pulled my hand off my stomach and stared at the blood on my fingers before I looked back at him. I hadn’t felt any pain. Shock, my brain offered as my knees buckled and I started to tip backwards. I braced myself for a harsh landing when arms wrapped around me. 

“Nice catch,” I said as the Doctor slid us to the floor. He was already reaching for my hand. 

“Let me see,” he said. It must have been bad because his eyes filled with tears immediately and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Oh Emma. It’s going to be okay.” 

“You’re a shit liar,” I whispered, and he gave a wet laugh against my forehead. I reached up with my left hand and clenched it in his suit before cupping his face with my right hand. 

“Promise me something,” I said through my suddenly chattering teeth. 

“Anything within reason,” he mumbled, seemingly reflexively, as his arms tightened around me. 

“Promise me you won’t regret me. You have so much regret weighing down on your shoulders and I don’t want to be part of that. Don’t lock me up in some box in your heart that will hurt you. Tell all the next companions about me, tell them about the silly blonde girl you traveled with. Don’t regret me because I don’t regret a single thing about travelling with you.” I studied his face and gave him a tiny shake. “Promise me.” 

“I don’t remember travelling with a silly blonde girl,” he said, and I nudged him as best I could. He kissed my forehead again, long and lingering. “Yes, Emma I promise. I’ll tell them all about the bravest, most wonderful girl in the whole universe that I was lucky enough to travel with.” 

“Laying it on a bit thick there aren’t you?” I said as I rested my head on his shoulder as I was wracked with full body shivers as cold descended on me. 

“Doctor,” I mumbled uncomfortably as I developed pins and needles in my feet. 

“I know. I know,” he said wetly. I squinted up at him. 

“How do you know that my feet have gone numb?” I asked and he laughed. 

“Okay so I didn’t know,” he admitted. I suddenly remembered my sixth birthday and realized that I’d never gotten the chance to warn the Doctor. He’d looked so sad the first day I’d met him, and I’d thought it was because of Rose, but maybe it had been because of this. Promising me that we were going to have adventures while knowing I was going to die would probably tear his hearts in two. 

“The TARDIS will take you where you need to go. Peanut butter and honey make the best sandwiches,” I said as darkness and exhaustion started creeping up on me. Then I remembered Raq and how much the Doctor would be hurting because of this. “Don’t get too angry.” 

“The bullet was covered in a poison that will kill her once it reaches her heart. Doctor we can save her, but we must act quickly.” I heard the King’s voice distantly after an indeterminable amount of time and I felt the Doctor’s arms tighten around me before they loosened. 

“Please. Whatever it takes.” The warmth of the Doctor’s arms disappeared as I was lifted against something cold and metallic. I cried out as my wound was jostled and for the first time I felt a searing pain for a few agonizing moments before I was plunged into darkness. 

* * *

I woke up blearily in a hospital room with Jon sitting in the chair next to me. He jumped out and stood next to the bed as soon as he realized I was awake. 

“Hey Emma. It’s okay, you’re okay,” he said as I tried to sit up. I blinked at him a few times when my sitting up failed. 

“Where’s the Doctor?” I asked roughly before trying to sit again. Jon sighed in resignation as he helped me. I gave him a thankful smile. 

“He said he had to talk with Raq and he wanted me to sit with you so that you didn’t wake up alone. He’s kind of scary your friend,” Jon said and I nodded. Now that I was sitting up I didn’t feel so sluggish. 

“Yeah he gets like that sometimes when he gets angry.” I bit my lip and flicked my gaze at the door. “Do you think you could go get him?” Jon smiled and nodded. 

As soon as the door shut behind him I wiggled around so that I could lift the blanket and hospital robe away from my stomach. To my surprise there weren’t any bandages covering it and there weren’t any stitches either, the wound already looked like a gross scar. There was the bullet hole, of course, but that was surrounded by a bunch of squiggly lines that looked vaguely like spider legs that were a faded dark green in colour. 

“Poking at it already?” The Doctor asked amusedly from the doorway and I dropped the blankets guiltily to look up at him. 

“It doesn’t even have any stiches,” I defended as he took a few steps forward. “I thought I told you not to get too angry.” 

“You also told me that peanut butter and honey is the best so I chalked that up to delirium.” I stuck the tip of my tongue out at him. 

“That’s because they were my favourite kind of sandwich when I was little and they are still the best,” I said before I reached for the Doctor as he went pale suddenly, the kind of pale he usually went when he realized that something horrible had happened or was about to happen. He also looked vaguely nauseous 

“What’s wrong?” I asked desperately as the Doctor pulled out his sonic and waved it over me. His lips moved, but no words came out. 

“Doctor?!” I cried as he tore out of the room. I took a deep breath and flung the blankets off before swinging my feet over the side of the bed to go after him. I wobbled to the door carefully because my sluggishness might have worn off, but my knees still felt a little unsteady. 

“What did you use to heal her?” The Doctor was demanding to the staff as I propped myself up on the doorframe to catch my breath before I wobbled after him again. 

“A medicine that is sourced from a local plant that grows on top of the Tear making its nectar mostly time energy. Don’t worry no serious side effects will appear,” the staff member said dutifully obviously unperturbed by the Doctor’s slight hysteria. I guessed that the Tear was the small rift in time and space that the Doctor had mentioned when we had first arrived. 

“Emma’s not from this planet. She doesn’t have the tolerance to time energy that you people have,” The Doctor said and ran his hands through his hair. 

“So, what does that mean?” I asked and he whirled around in alarm. He must have seen how unsteady I was feeling because he took a few steps towards me. “Just tell me so I can stop worrying.” 

“You have time energy in your blood. It’s stopped your biological clock. You’ll-“ He took a deep shuddering breath before he looked at me deeply, like he was staring into my soul. “Emma from this point on you’ll never age.” 

“Oh,” I said stupidly after I had blinked at him dumbly a few times. 

We didn’t speak to each other until we were back in the TARDIS, which was a bit of a stupid decision on my part since it gave the Doctor time to brood, but I’d gotten stuck trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I’d essentially become immortal. I took a deep breath as we took off and stuck my feet in the water. 

“So, what happens now?” I asked and I watched his hands hesitate over the controls. 

“I’m taking you home,” he said quietly, and I froze. 

“Excuse me?” He glanced at me quickly, a single second long look that was full of sadness and guilt, before he looked back down at the console. 

“I have ruined your life Emma. I think you should go home.” I stared at him for a few minutes in shock before I shook my head. 

“No,” I said harshly, and the Doctor’s head snapped up from the console to look at me finally. Somehow that only made me angrier. 

“No, I’m not going back to Earth just so that you can leave me there to relieve your guilt! Ruined my life!? You saved my life! You told them whatever it takes! Or were you just saying that!?” I shrieked and he stormed around the console, looking properly angry. 

“Of course not!” He snapped. “Why would I just say that!?” 

“Why else would you abandon me too!?” The Doctor stopped dead at my words, looking as if I’d just physically slapped him across the face. We stared at each other for several long seconds as I heaved desperate angry breaths in and the Doctor appeared to be trying to decide what to say, now that I had managed to steal all his anger from him. 

“I don’t want to abandon you,” he paused, and I walked up to him before he could continue his thought. 

“Then I’ll make you a deal,” I said and kicked the Doctor as hard as I could in his shin. His cry of shocked pain made me feel slightly better, despite my childish actions. “I will go home and stop travelling with you when I say so, or when I kick you and it doesn’t hurt anymore. But not a moment sooner.” 

I nodded at him sharply before spinning on my heel and storming off to my room with my head held high as tears rolled down my face and with what felt like a pat on the back from the TARDIS.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey...uhhhh.... I'm sorry?


	24. Chapter 23

“Where are we going?” I asked while twirling a curl around my finger nervously. The Doctor shifted his gaze to me and his face pinched up. I wondered if it was because he knew that I only twirled my hair like this when I was nervous or anxious or because of the fact that we hadn’t really properly made up from the argument we’d had after the slight fiasco of Typus Seven. 

“Jack phoned. Said something weird is happening with the rift and he can’t make sense of it,” he said before I could put my foot in my mouth by asking. I released my hair and walked towards him. 

“Who’s Jack?” I was doing my best to pretend that it wasn’t slightly awkward between us, operating on a fake it until you make it policy. 

“Jack Harkness. He’s a former time agent from the fifty first century who got stuck on Earth and got attached.” He paused and hit the mallet onto the console. “He runs Torchwood now.” 

“Getting attached sounds like someone else I know,” I said and nudged him teasingly. He grinned at me in response and I bit down on my lip so that my relief wouldn’t show through too much. “Wait I thought Torchwood was destroyed with Canary Wharf?” 

“That was Torchwood Two. There were three Torchwood locations. Torchwood One is in Scotland on the Torchwood estate where it was formed by Queen Victoria after an incident.” He pulled a face that was a mixture of embarrassed and disgruntled, so I had to ask. 

“Is this incident by any chance the same thing that caused you to get knighted and then banished in the span of a minute?” His expression deepened so I took that as a yes. 

“Torchwood Three, which is run by Jack, is in Cardiff. It was put there to keep an eye on and attempt to regulate the rift in space and time that runs through Cardiff.” His speech and movements ground to a halt as he realized what he had said. I bit down on my lip harder this time so that I wouldn’t flinch as the air seemed to thicken around us. The way things were between us right now reminded me of when I was ten, when I had spent eighteen and a half months walking on eggshells around my parents, constantly trying to figure out the mood of the room. 

“What did Jack mean by weird with the rift?” I asked carefully around the lump of panic in my throat. The Doctor flashed me a split-second relieved look. 

“Well people have been disappearing and while generally people fall through the rift every so often, it isn’t to this extent,” he said. I nodded as we landed and walked towards the door. “Just so you know, Jack’s a bit of an excessive flirt.” 

“I’ll be sure to flirt back then,” I said as sagely as I could manage, but only kept it together for a few seconds because the Doctor’s face instantly twisted up at my words just as he opened the door. A man in suspenders grinned at us, somehow managing to look cheesy and suave all at the same time. 

“Doctor it’s not every day you bring along a pretty girl with a laugh like sunshine.” The Doctor’s face twisted up a little bit more, but before he could open his mouth to say something I squealed in delight and shock as I caught sight of who was coming up the stairs behind Jack, because the guy who immediately flirted with me had to be Jack. 

“What are you doing here?” I shrieked as I threw myself at Ianto who caught me with hardly any stumble and hugged me tightly. 

“Me?” Ianto asked and laughed. “I work here, what are you doing here?” 

“I should think that was obvious since you watched me climb out of the TARDIS,” I said teasingly in response before I squeezed him tighter. 

“Do you two know each other?” the Doctor asked, and we separated. I blushed slightly because my actions had probably been a little embarrassing. The Doctor was looking at us like we were some kind of confusing puzzle while Jack was smirking widely. A woman I hadn’t noticed before was looking between us in shock. 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Jack asked with a pretty obvious leer. I rolled my eyes and shot Ianto a look. 

“He’s just as bad as you said he was,” I said and Ianto chuckled. “Ianto and I have been good friends since I was in Uni. We kind of just bumped into each other one day.” 

“I was doing some grunt work for Torchwood when all of a sudden I was two hours deep into a conversation with Emma about tea.” 

“Oh! Speaking of, we clearly need to get properly caught up, so we could have tea while they talk business?” I suggested while glancing around the room. The Doctor still looked slightly dumbfounded, while Jack just looked amused and the woman gave us a smile and made a shooing motion. 

“Thanks Gwen,” Ianto said. Gwen smiled after us as we left, and Jack clapped the Doctor on his shoulder while steering him towards a different part of the main room. 

I filled Ianto in quickly on what had happened since my birthday and then included the story of meeting the Doctor for the first time, but swore him to secrecy about that last one because I still hadn’t found the right time to tell the Doctor. 

“So, you got shot and now you’re immortal because of some kind of flower?” Ianto asked after I finished. 

“More or less. And the Doctor and I had a bit of an argument about me staying in the TARDIS and we’ve been kind of awkward ever since,” I said. He frowned at me before standing up and walking over to a drawer and rifling around. 

“Here. Keep you safe while you’re traveling the stars.” He set something rectangular on the table. I poked it carefully and raised an eyebrow up at him. He tapped the end closest to him with one finger. “It’s kind of a taser, but as far as we can tell it doesn’t cause the other person any pain.” 

“Thanks,” I said truthfully and slid it into my pocket. “Your turn.” 

Ianto sighed deeply as he slid back into his chair before he started his story; getting hired at Torchwood and falling in love with Lisa along the way, the Battle of Canary Wharf and the presumptuousness that had lead to that whole debacle and the truth about what happened to Lisa. We both cried at that story and when he went on to tell me about Tosh and Owen. 

“God Ianto I’m so sorry.” I reached out and squeezed his hand tightly while wiping my eyes. “I’m glad you found a place here with Jack and Gwen.” He squeezed back tightly. 

“I’m glad you found the Doctor. You seem happier than I’ve ever seen you regardless of awkwardness.” I smiled before I slumped over and rested my head on the table. Ianto chuckled and massaged my shoulder. 

“Now I’m hungry and want Chinese. Is there a place near here?” I asked, peeking up from the table and Ianto nodded as he wrote an address down on a piece of paper. 

“Tell them Ianto sent you and that we want the usual. He’ll put it on the tab,” Ianto said. I sat up fully and accepted the paper. 

“Are you sure? I can pay,” I offered and Ianto shook his head. 

“We get government money for a reason,” he joked, and I laughed and pressed a kiss to his cheek as we headed back in the other room where Jack and the Doctor were arguing with each other over top of some kind of technology while Gwen looked on in what looked like amusement and the good sense to not get in the middle of it. 

“How long have they been arguing?” I asked loudly. They both twisted to look at me. 

“We’re not arguing,” they said in unison. The Doctor jumped up to stand next to me with concern furrowing his forehead. 

“You’ve been crying,” he said accusingly and shot Ianto a dark look. I laughed lightly and squeezed his forearm. 

“We were talking about Lisa,” I said before holding up the sticky note. “And now I’m hungry so I’m running down the street to pick up some food.” He frowned at that. 

“By yourself?” He asked. I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“I understand your paranoia, but I am perfectly capable of walking six blocks round trip,” I said pointedly. I watched a few emotions flicker across his face before settling on agreement. 

“Phone if there’s any kind of issue,” he said. 

“Will do.” I gave him a half assed salute which he rolled his eyes at before bouncing back over to Jack and Ianto. I wandered over to Gwen. 

“How do I open the door?” I asked and pointed at the large wheel thing. Gwen smiled at me brightly and lead me over to a little platform. 

“Back door. You’re going to love it,” Gwen said and stood back, and the platform lifted off the ground like a little mini elevator. I squealed in delight which made everyone else look up from their work. 

“This is so cool!” I yelled to the Doctor who gave me a delighted wave. 

“Don’t fall off!” He called back as I leaned over slightly to wave back at him. Jack blew me a kiss which I pretended to catch and throw back at Ianto which made them both laugh. I arrived at ground level facing the Millennium Centre and fished my phone out of my pocket when it started ringing. 

“I want one for the TARDIS,” I said immediately as I started walking and the Doctor laughed. 

“Where would we put it?” He asked, and I shrugged even though I knew he couldn’t see me. 

“There’s a pool in the library, I’m sure we can think of something,” I said. “Any reason for already phoning me?” 

“People are disappearing Emma. I just want to make sure I have the ability to find you if it happens,” He said. I tilted my head to the side in concession because that was a reasonable reason. 

“I went missing one time,” I protested with a smile just because I could. 

“Twice actually.” 

“Falling out of the TARDIS does not count,” I said. 

“It does and both times scared a decade out of me,” he said, and I laughed as I glanced at a statue of an angel crying into its hands across the street. 

“You’re over nine hundred. I feel like you can spare a few decades at this point,” I said and jumped as I glanced at the statue again. “Jesus!” 

“Emma!” The Doctor said loudly as I started to laugh weakly. 

“You’re starting to rub off on me,” I said. “I thought I saw a statue move.” I heard two metallic things collide over the phone, like the Doctor had dropped something. 

“What did it look like?” 

“An angel crying at first, but when I looked again it was just looking ahead.” 

“Look Again,” the Doctor ordered so I did and took several steps backwards at the sight of the statue that had absolutely, no questions about it, moved. 

“Holy Shit,” I said and now I could hear the Doctor running. 

“Emma Listen to me. Whatever you do don’t look away from it and don’t blink,” he ordered. I almost blinked in astonishment of what he asked, but caught myself at the last second. 

“Don’t blink! Have you ever tried not blinking in your life!? Its not just something you do,” I said. He grumbled something about flippant under his breath. 

“How fast do they move?” I asked as I blinked by accident. I snapped my eyes open as quickly as possible and took a deep breath in shock. “Very fast. Okay noted.” 

“I told you not to blink!” The Doctor cried over the sound of the TARDIS. 

“It was an accident!” I hissed back and did a couple quick glances around my peripheral vision. “I’ve got an idea and you’re going to hate it.” 

“No. Emma I’m on my way just wait,” he said. 

“My eyes are already burning.” I tightened my grip on my phone. “I’m holding my phone in case this doesn’t work so please come get me?” 

“Emma-“ the Doctor said, but I cut him off before I could lose my nerve or blink before I was ready. 

“Now.” I closed my eyes and dropped into a crouch just as the TARDIS started materializing to my left.


	25. Chapter 24

I heard the doors of the TARDIS fly open with a crash, so I cracked my eyelids and peeked up from where I was crouched on the ground. The statue was reaching out with its index finger extended and staring itself straight in its reflection in the window of the shop behind me. I scuttled to the side and stood up next to the Doctor, who was looking at me like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to call me brilliant or stupidly reckless. 

“Are you alright? What were you thinking?” He demanded as he grasped my shoulders. 

“Fine and my idea worked so no real complaints.” His hands tightened, and he hauled me closer to him to wrap me up in a tight hug and mumbled words about how he was absolutely rubbing off on me in the worst ways. 

“Care to explain the alien of the day?” Jack asked with a hand wave from behind us. The Doctor released me as we all crowded around the statue at a safe distance. 

“Weeping Angels. They’re a quantum locked species.” I made a confused face and the Doctor must have noticed because he continued quickly. “They look like stone when you look at them. They touch you and send you back in time to live out the rest of your days and feed off the time energy created from all the days you never lived here. Kindest psychopaths in the universe.” 

“So, what happens if I touch it?” I asked purely out of curiosity. The Doctor reached down and grabbed my hand and shook his head slightly. 

“I don’t know but, don’t try.” I nodded, and he released me. I stuck close to him because I figured it would make him feel better. Jack leaned in curiously while Gwen scanned it carefully. 

“It certainly explains why there was an increase in disappearances,” Jack said, and Gwen made a noise of agreement while she frowned slightly. 

“Can one Weeping Angel be responsible for that many?” She asked, and the Doctor shook his head in frustration. 

“I’ve only ever encountered them as scavengers, but there’s no reason to think that they couldn’t hunt if they were stronger.” He scrubbed his hands through his hair, and I cleared my throat to get his attention. Everyone glanced at me. 

“On that topic, how do they communicate?” 

“Telepathically or they have a slightly hive mind likes bees. I’m not really sure.” The Doctor pulled a face and I couldn’t help but laugh a bit. 

“You just hate not knowing, don’t you?” I teased, and he grumbled something under his breath. Jack gave me a big smile and a wink. 

“It was awfully brave of it to come after Emma in broad daylight,” Ianto muttered thoughtfully. The Doctor and Jack frowned in thought in unison. 

“Doctor you said they feed off of all the days you never lived right?” I asked. 

“Yes.” 

“Well I have time energy in my blood, so not only do I have a lot of days to never live, I would also be a lot more energy to live off of.” I looked at him and watched the realization and horror dawn on him at the same time. “I walked right in front of it, how could it resist? Like dangling a prize steak in front of a rabid dog.” 

“Well they’re not really rabid. More like starving,” the Doctor said. 

“I’m sorry that I’m not quite as good at metaphors on the fly as you are,” I retorted sarcastically, and the Doctor beamed while he opened his mouth, probably to sass me back or say something about my flippancy, when suddenly Gwen cried out in shock and I whirled around to see her disappear and another Weeping Angel standing with an index finger extended. 

“Oh Shit!” Jack swore. I felt a hint of panic start to descend on me as my brain scrambled to try to process the fact that Gwen had just disappeared. 

“Get in the TARDIS,” the Doctor ordered. I swallowed to try and get my feet to move, but I was still frozen staring at the other Angel that had appeared. 

“Emma don’t panic,” he said after he realized I hadn’t moved. 

“Tiny bit too late for that. She’s fine right?” I whispered slightly hysterically, and I heard him make a noise I couldn’t quite place just seconds before he clamped his hands on my hips and lifted me off the ground and carried me into the TARDIS. 

“I don’t know if carrying me was necessary. I don’t think I was actually panicking yet. Mostly startled so I’m pretty sure a hand would have worked,” I said as he set me down and I turned around to face him. 

“I thought you were going to blink again,” he said weakly and then he cupped my face in his hands and I realized he was shaking slightly. I opened my mouth to reassure him that I hadn’t been planning on it, it had just been a little alarming to watch Gwen disappear in the literal blink of an eye, but he kept going before I could speak. 

“Emma I’m so sorry. I was such an idiot when I tried to make you leave. I didn’t want you to go in the first place, but I somehow convinced myself that it would be better if I thought you wanted to go. I’ve never been so glad that someone has kicked some sense into me.” 

“You silly old Time Lord. I’ve never been so happy to kick sense into someone,” I said and threw my arms around him. “Forgiven and I’m sorry I physically kicked you.” 

“Don’t apologize. There’s no need for you to.” I hugged him tighter and tucked my grin into the curve of his shoulder at the feeling of a weight lifting off my shoulders as I realized that I didn’t need to be worried about abandonment anymore. Ianto cleared his throat and we stepped away from each other and I tried not to blush. 

“What’s this about kicking?” Jack asked with an eyebrow wiggle. I laughed, and the Doctor fixed him with a glare. 

“Don’t start Jack.” 

“Not that I don’t love the fact that you can so easily knock the Doctor off balance, but I feel like we should focus on what we are going to do about the two Weeping Angels we just left in the middle of the street in Cardiff,” I said. Ianto hummed idly in agreement while the Doctor and Jack appeared to have a small battle of facial expressions. 

“We could pick one up and transport it back to Torchwood for observation if we could make sure we wouldn’t get zapped. Might be able to find a way to make them leave,” Ianto said. 

“I suppose the only way to know that would be to test if they can still zap when they’re in stone form,” I said. Jack and the Doctor’s heads snapped over at the same time with serious looks on their faces. 

“No,” they snapped at the same time. I bit down on my lip so that I wouldn’t smile too widely at the two of them. Ianto raised an eyebrow up at them slowly. 

“You two were too busy making faces at each other so we started bouncing ideas off each other. I’m sure we’re both open to suggestions.” The Doctor immediately pulled a face and I rocked up onto the balls of my feet to get a good look at his expression. 

“Oh, I know that face. That’s the ‘Emma had a dangerous idea, but it’s the best idea’ face.” He dragged a hand over his face and I grinned at him. 

“Unfortunately, you’re right. But I am not letting you be the test subject.” He crossed his arms at that and I shrugged and planted my hands on my hips. 

“Well I’m not letting you be the test subject either, because if you get zapped I can’t fly the TARDIS so you and Gwen will be stuck.” 

“Who would you suggest then?” Jack asked from where he was leaning against the console watching us. 

“Ianto,” I said and Ianto nodded as Jack pushed himself up from the console in what looked like alarm. 

“Jack’s lived on Earth longer than any of us, the chances he bumps into himself is too high. We don’t need a paradox on our hands on top of everything else,” Ianto said and I nodded. The Doctor nodded reluctantly as well while Jack looked between the three of us before walking over to Ianto and dragging him off to the side. 

“I feel like we should probably have a longer more grown up conversation about our fight,” I said to the Doctor so that Jack and Ianto could have all the time they needed. 

“Probably, but for now just-just know that I want you to stay Emma. For as long as you want. No further physical damage required,” he said with a wink and a fond smile. 

“Works for me.” The Doctor leaned forward and hooked his pinky around mine as he pivoted us to face Jack and Ianto who made their way back over to us from the corner. Jack looked upset but resigned and Ianto looked just a little victorious. I smiled at them as an idea occurred to me and I walked over to the screen and turned it on. 

“Well that might make things easier.” I pointed to the second Angel on the screen. “It hasn’t moved since we got in the TARDIS. Maybe because its on video and so it thinks its being watched?” The Doctor stared at me for a few moments, so I shifted on my feet awkwardly. 

“Because a camera is like an eye, right? So, it might only perceive that an eye is watching it and not really realize that it’s not being actively watched,” I explained further when no one said anything. The Doctor blinked at me before a smile split his face. 

“Emma Bradley you are Brilliant!” He leaped forward to kiss my forehead. “Completely and Utterly Brilliant!” 

“Thanks Doctor. You’re not bad yourself,” I said as I unhooked our pinkies so that he wouldn’t jerk me down on the floor along with him as he pulled up part of the floor and started digging around. I did crouch down next to him and held out my hands after the Doctor’s hand appeared full of duct tape and waved around for a minute. That hand disappeared back into the floor and his other hand popped out a few moments later brandishing small mirrors. 

“Can I ask what the plan is exactly?” I asked after he slid the floor back to normal. He took the stuff from my hands and grinned as he started placing tape on the back of the mirrors. 

“Ianto is going to tape these over the eyes of the Angel that you trapped with the window. What made you think to do that by the way?” He asked, and I shrugged as the Doctor handed Ianto the mirrors. 

“I don’t know. You said to keep looking at it, so I figured if I could get it to look at itself then it would work.” 

“You know Emma, if you ever need a job Torchwood will take you,” Jack said and Ianto huffed a laugh as he headed for the door. 

“I have a job currently, but I’ll keep it in mind,” I said even though I knew I’d never manage to keep my head on straight if I worked with Torchwood. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure why, but I knew it wouldn’t be good for me. 

“Here he goes,” the Doctor muttered as he watched Ianto approach the Angel slowly on the video screen. I reached over and squeezed Jack’s forearm in support. Ianto calmly planted a hand on the back of the Angel’s head, paused for a few seconds before he flashed the camera a thumbs up and proceeded to tape the mirrors over the Angel’s eyes. “That answers that question.” 

“Sure does. So, what are we going to do about that one?” I asked and pointed at the other Angel on the screen. 

“We could do the same thing with the mirrors, bring it on the TARDIS and take it back to Torchwood,” Jack suggested. 

“It’s a rather big risk though. It wouldn’t be a good thing if it got it’s hands on the TARDIS,” the Doctor said. 

“Does the TARDIS have a tractor beam?” Jack gave me a look, so I shrugged. “I’ve never asked, and every Sci-fi movie ship has one and that would be a way to transport the Angel without actually bringing it in the TARDIS.” 

“You are getting very good at this,” the Doctor said as he bounced forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead as he started to press buttons on the console. “We shouldn’t need the mirrors on the one we’re going to transport because it won’t be able to get out of the tractor beam. Following that we should just be able to drop it off in one of the holding cells in Torchwood because they’re all monitored by video cameras.” 

“What are we going to do after that?” Jack asked as Ianto came back in. The Doctor shrugged as he continued messing with the console. 

“Study it I suppose. Perhaps we could engineer a way for them to feed without using people,” the Doctor said with a distant look in his eyes that I knew meant he had a few ideas cooking. “I’m fairly certain we could use the rift to our benefit.” 

The TARDIS shuddered slightly, and I cast my gaze at the video to make sure that the Angel hadn’t moved. The Doctor noticed my glance and patted the console gently. 

“Sorry that was me.” I flashed him a smile. 

“It’s okay I was just making sure that our plan was still going to work.” Jack stepped forward at that as the Doctor started the dematerialization sequence. 

“What did you mean about using the rift?” Jack asked and the Doctor launched into an explanation about how he could create a back-pack sort of thing to assist in a transfer of rift energy that would feed the Weeping Angel as he rifled around in the floor of the TARDIS again and started rewiring it while flying the TARDIS. 

“You should really put teaching me to fly further up the list so that I can help in moments like this,” I said as I reached forward to catch the sonic after he dropped it and it bounced off the console. 

“I keep getting distracted.” He said and then I watched a spark of inspiration flash across his face. “I just had a much better less dangerous idea.” I raised an eyebrow up at him as I handed him the sonic back. 

“Care to share with the class?” I asked while I held my arms out for the backpack thing he was trying to juggle around so he could steer. 

“When we get back to Torchwood.”


	26. Chapter25

“You doing okay Emma?” the Doctor asked as he walked towards the containment cell lugging his giant Tesla coils behind him. His much better less dangerous plan involved him placing Macgyvered Tesla coils around the Weeping Angel to create a sort of Tesla cage of rift energy that the Angel would be able to feed off of hopefully. Apparently, the back-pack plan had involved a risk of rift energy arcing through the wearer’s heart. 

“You’re the one approaching a Weeping Angel. I should be asking you that.” I hadn’t taken my eyes off the screen that the security footage was playing on and was trying to pretend I wasn’t clenching the desk. 

“She’s fine Doctor.” Jack said, and the Doctor flashed the camera an exasperated look. 

“You have bigger problems than me right now, so if you could redirect your focus that would be swell,” I said through my clenched teeth. 

“You are my biggest problem Emma,” the Doctor said. 

“I’ll try not to be offended by that,” I said dryly and Ianto chuckled silently beside me. The Doctor sent another look at the next camera. 

“You knew what I meant.” 

“Well there were two options to what you could mean.” 

“Doctor you never flirted like that with me when I traveled with you,” Jack said with a fake pout. The Doctor spluttered over the radio. 

“Not flirting Jack. Just being my flippant self,” I said and Ianto laughed again. 

“Well then I’ll have to do what the Doctor won’t Emma.” Jack gave me a wink and I shared a fond eye roll with Ianto. 

“Don’t start Jack,” the Doctor said brusquely. I laughed into my hand lightly. 

“All he did was wink at me.” He grumbled something under his breath that I couldn’t make out over the radio. I bit down on my lip to try to decrease my smile. 

“Don’t worry he knows I’m no threat. He’s got all of time and space in that box of his.” 

“And I would rather have you,” Ianto said and Jack’s face went soft immediately. I realized that the Doctor had probably prompted this conversation on purpose because now I was no longer clenching the desk in front of me. I squinted at his form on the video. 

“I’m on to you,” I whispered, and he smiled innocently. 

“Who me?” Then his face went serious as he walked into the cell and stood a careful distance away from the Weeping Angel and started setting up his configured machine. 

“I hate this plan. Why do all my plans get shot down, but this one doesn’t?” I muttered. 

“Because your plans involve you putting yourself in danger,” the Doctor said. 

“And this plan is you putting yourself in danger correct?” 

“Well it’s me not you. I didn’t say there wasn’t a double standard in my plan making.” 

“Rude.” And then I sucked in a deep breath. 

“Turn off the camera,” I said and unplugged the screen in panic. Ianto and Jack both cried out in alarm. 

“What did you do?” 

“That which holds the image of an angel becomes an angel,” I blurted out and they both stared at me. 

“What are you talking about?!” 

“I don’t know. But I also know that I’m right,” I said and ducked around Jack to start yanking things out from the backpack thing that the Doctor abandoned. I grabbed the round thing that the Doctor had described as being the rift connector and gripped it in my hand. There were a few moments of silence until Gwen’s voice filtered out of the radio and I jumped. 

“His neck or the girl,” the angel, it had to be the angel speaking, said. 

“What girl?” The Doctor challenged. 

“The Girl Touched by Time.” I frowned at the angel’s words. 

“I am not cool enough to deserve that title,” I said before I could think better of it. The Doctor groaned. 

“Not now.” 

“Sorry coping mechanism.” 

“Why do you want her?” The Doctor asked as if he had already guessed, but wanted it confirmed anyways. 

“Food.” 

“You’re scavengers.” 

“We could stop being scavengers with her.” And by the look on everyone’s faces it was the exact answer we had all been expecting. 

“Don’t you dare Emma. Don’t you dare.” The Doctor let out a grunt of pain which confused me. “Don’t you dare.” 

“So, what’s your plan?” Ianto asked as he reached over and muted the radio. I took a deep breath to formalize my plan and nodded. 

“Turn on the rift when I say. The code word is tea.” 

“Are you crazy?” Jack asked. 

“I learned from the best.” I shouted over my shoulder as I started running down the hallway as fast as I could. I heard Jack swear violently behind me, but I ignored them because if I thought too hard about this very stupid idea I would start second guessing myself. 

I rounded the corner and inhaled sharply at the sight of the Doctor dangling off the floor with the Angel’s hand wrapped around his neck. That explained the comment about his neck earlier. I hadn’t even thought about trying to dissect it until this moment. 

“No! Emma! No!” The Doctor started kicking and struggling against the Angel for the first time as far as I knew when I rounded the corner and he saw me standing outside the cell. 

“Emma please turn around and go.” I tore my eyes off him and looked at the Angel because I couldn’t stand his horrified look. 

“If I close my eyes can you put him down?” 

“I won’t close mine!” The Doctor said with wildly swinging feet. 

“The lights then,” I offered, and they flicked off and back on in a millisecond and the Doctor was on the floor in a heap rubbing his neck and coughing. I wasn’t sure whether Ianto had done the lights or the Angel, but I filed it away in my brain as things to not think about right now. I looked at the Angel again. 

“It must be awful, to always be hungry.” 

“Yes.” I would never get used to Gwen’s voice coming out of the Angel’s unmoving mouth. 

“I can fix that.” I took a half step forward. 

“No Emma please. Don’t leave. Not like this. Please don’t choose this.” I looked at the Doctor again and the trust me that I was going to say got lost in my throat at the agonized look on his face. 

He’d just reassured me that he wanted me to stay. Hell, I’d almost died in his arms not long ago, and I was sure that if he really had to choose, he’d pick that over this. I sent him the best smile I could manage. 

“It’s time for tea,” I said and extended my hand. The room went dark as heat raced down my arm and arched between the Angel and I’s fingers and the Doctor shouted for me hoarsely before there was a horrid cracking sound and the lights flicked back on just in time to see the Angel shatter into thousands of pieces. I squeaked and threw my hands in front of my eyes as a plume of dust and small pebbles fluttered up from the floor. 

“Well that worked better than expected. Jack was that you?” I asked, and Jack appeared in the doorway shaking his head and looking astonished. 

“You’ve got quite the energy there Emma,” he said with a wink and the Doctor groaned from the floor. I dropped down next to him and hissed as I put weight on my left wrist. 

“Let me see your neck.” 

“Let me see your arm.” 

We stared at each other for a few moments before the Doctor simply leaned forward and picked up my hand and swore lightly in Gallifreyan at the burns on my fingers from where I had gripped the rift connector thing 

“You let her do this!” He snapped at Jack as he unfurled my fingers. 

“It’s not his fault. I talked him into it,” I said. He paused for a moment so that he could run a hand over his face. 

“What were you thinking Emma?” 

“I was thinking that a Weeping Angel had you by the throat and at worst I would end up with nerve damage.” 

“And if the rift energy had gone through your heart?!” 

“I had faith in your science.” I tipped his chin up at that and raced my fingers over the hand shaped red mark. 

“Kinky,” Jack announced to break the tension and I laughed while Ianto groaned over the radio. 

“Have you ever heard of tact Jack?” Ianto grumbled. 

“Once or twice.” 

“Charming as ever Jack,” the Doctor said as I laughed again. He tilted his head forward so that his forehead rested on mine. His next words came under his breath. “Please Emma don’t ever do that again.” 

“Honestly, I’ve gotten worse burns from the toaster Lillian and I had in uni,” I said truthfully as I looked at the burns. I’d spent almost a year and a half with constant electrical burns on my fingers gifted to me by the toaster we rescued from a dumpster until Dad bought us a new one. Then I dropped my voice to match his. “I am sorry.” 

“You’ve gotten enough scars travelling with me.” 

“These ones won’t scar. And the rest are all totally worth it,” I assured him before I grinned. “Admit it that thing that just happened was bad ass.” His lips quirked up at the corners and he leaned pressed a kiss to my forehead. 

“Bad ass indeed. Also, pretty brilliant even if I hate to admit it.” I beamed at him in response. He shook his head at me fondly with a smile on his face. 

“Okay so that thing it did with Gwen’s voice was creepy as hell. Why could it do that?” I asked as we both stood up from the floor. Jack shrugged and looked at the Doctor who shrugged as well. 

“I didn’t know they could do that either,” he said and I rolled my eyes slightly. 

“What a font of knowledge you are.” He gave me a look, so I winked at him. 

“Now Emma don’t be mean to the Doctor,” Jack chided with a smirk. 

“Oh, he can handle it,” I said with a dismissive wave. “Now how about you two go pick up Gwen from wherever she ended up while Ianto smears some burn cream on my arm?” 

“You don’t want to come?” The Doctor asked quietly. 

“What makes you think Ianto doesn’t want to go?” Jack asked. I rolled my eyes at both of them. 

“Well that suggestion was a not so horribly subtle request to have a tiny little itty-bitty bit of time alone with Ianto,” I answered and Ianto laughed over the radio. 

“No social cues those two,” he said, and I hummed in agreement while they both made mildly offended faces. 

“None at all.” The Doctor’s face twisted up in amusement while Jack pouted slightly. I waved at the door again. 

“Come on shoo. Away with you.” 

They came back about half an hour later with a mildly alarmed Gwen and a slightly stressed Doctor. He plopped into the chair next to me and I passed him my cup of tea. 

“So where did you find her?” I asked as he took a large drink. 

“Cardiff. Christmas Day of 1869,” he answered slightly gruffly. I rubbed his shoulder before I frowned. 

“Wait isn’t that when you met Charles Dickens?” I asked, and he nodded. I winced. “I bet that was messy.” 

“Very.” He thunked his forehead down on the top of the table at that and I continued rubbing his shoulder as I looked up at Jack and Gwen. 

“Tea for you two?” I asked as I slid my cup back from the Doctor. 

“Something stronger for me I think,” Jack said, and Gwen agreed. I smiled and Ianto gestured to the free chairs as he got up to fetch a few more glasses. 

“Better fill us in Gwen. I want to know everything about Charles Dickens.”


	27. Chapter 26

“This is so cool,” I said as the Doctor and I walked through the Draconian castle behind our tour guide. 

“We haven’t even gotten to the grandest part of the castle,” the Doctor said with a smile. I grinned. 

“It’s like a functioning medieval castle.” 

“You know I could just take you to a medieval castle,” he said, and I waved my hand at him. Our tour guide pointed out a tapestry and I bounced forward to listen to his in-depth explanation of what it depicted. 

“We can do a medieval castle next, but this is like almost Earth architecture except not and it’s cool to compare differences. It’s also fascinating to learn about how Draconian society works.” The Doctor gave me a fond look while our Draconian guide gave me a surprised look. 

“Not many people are very interested in that.” I shrugged. 

“Why didn’t you study anthropology instead of history?” The Doctor asked. I bit my lip and took a deep breath. 

“There was too much guessing in anthropology. I mean it was educated guess work, but still guessing. I got into history when I was twelve because it made sense, I could see where things went wrong, what made certain things happen. Which was basically the opposite of what it was like with my parents,” I answered, and the Doctor nodded. 

“That makes sense. You should make me a list of all the places you wanted to go, and I’ll take you. No questions asked.” I reached out and squeezed his hand tightly. 

“You can ask questions.” We slowed to a stop outside a magnificent wooden door and our Draconian tour guide gave me a hesitant smile. 

“If you are interested in our society then this should interest you. It’s a part of our justice system.” He pushed the doors open and swept into the room. A few other Draconians peered up from their tomes to look at us from where they were seated at various desks that formed a half circle around the center of the room. 

“What happens here?” I asked, and our tour guide led us further into the room. 

“It’s an older tradition, but the idea is that if you enter this room you must not be carrying a secret that weighs on your soul. If you have this secret, then you must endure a task that ensures you are remorseful and willing to confess it.” We took a few steps further into the room and one of the Draconians sitting at the table stood up and held up a hand. 

“Halt.” I froze immediately while our tour guide and the Doctor took one more step forward. “One of you carries a secret that weighs on your soul.” 

“I’m certain I don’t know what you are talking about,” the Doctor said. 

“One of you has not disclosed something.” At the Draconian’s words it clicked in for me. I still hadn’t told the Doctor the full truth. 

“Oh. I forgot that I hadn’t told you about that.” The Doctor looked at me and I had a hint of déjà vu as the floor opened underneath me and I fell with a scream. I hit the icy cold water and surfaced spluttering and flicking my hair out of my face. 

“I’m getting real sick of ending up in sewers,” I muttered as I started to tread water and looked up at where I had fallen from. I could hear a faint rhythmic pounding that I guessed was probably the Doctor trying to get to me. I sighed deeply and swam towards the edge of the pool I had landed in. I climbed up and pulled my phone out of my pocket, hoping against hope that the Doctor had made it water proof when he’d updated it. 

“Of course not.” I put my phone back in my pocket for security blanket reasons and stood up. I mentally told myself that if I hadn’t panicked on Typus then I wasn’t going to panic here and took a deep breath to steel my conviction. 

“You are not our kind,” a Draconian voice said from behind me and I jumped. A male Draconian stepped out from one of the tunnels that splintered off from the one I was standing in. 

“I’m not.” 

“Then how did you come to be here?” He asked. 

“I was taking a tour and apparently my secret weighs on my soul and now here I am,” I said with a slightly over dramatic arm gesture. 

“Every time they send another person down here I hope that it will be the last. Every time I am proven wrong.” He said softly, more to himself than to me before he glanced up at me. “You must reveal your secret.” 

“Okay,” I said, and he quickly held up his hand and took a step forward. 

“Not here. It must be revealed at the centre of this labyrinth. I can take you part of the way there.” He wrapped his hand around my wrist and began walking me down the main tunnel. 

“Why not here?” I asked as I wiggled my hand out of his grip. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate his guiding hand, it was just that he was squeezing a little too tightly. 

“The entire point of this place is that you must prove yourself remorseful and share your secret only when you are in the centre of the labyrinth. It takes inner strength to do so.” 

“That’s different,” I said. “I’m Emma by the way.” 

“Emma. It sounds very exotic,” he said. 

“It’s very common where I’m from,” I said and wrapped my arms around myself. I was still soaked from my fall and it was quite cold down in the sewers. He gave me a sympathetic look. 

“Sorry this trial was designed for our kind.” I smiled and gave him a dismissive gesture. 

“It’s fine. I imagine it won’t be take too long to get to the centre, so I shouldn’t freeze solid by then,” I said and decided I wouldn’t press him about the fact that he hadn’t given me a name. Names were complicated sometimes. We walked in silence for a little while longer before I decided there was no risk in asking him questions. 

“So why are you still down here? If you know the way and everything that needs to be done?” I asked, and he gave a deep, slightly self-deprecating sigh. 

“I haven’t found the inner strength yet. I’m only going to take you as far as I’ve made it which I’ll admit isn’t very far.” 

“Why not any further?” He gave me a questioning look, so I shrugged. “I’ve learned to take information from whatever source is available.” 

“Voices trying to get you to confess. I’ve heard rumours of physical manifestations later on.” I gave him a sideways glance. 

“What do you mean by voices?” I asked, and my question was answered for me a few seconds later. 

_“Emma.”_ My Dad’s voice echoed from one of the tunnels and I jumped and shot the tunnel a wild look. 

“Did you hear that?” I asked and looked down at my hands to realize that I was shaking. I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or not. My Draconian companion gave me another sympathetic look. 

“A voice yes. But probably not the same voice you heard.” 

“Well now I understand what you mean about inner strength. That caught me off guard just a little bit,” I muttered and fisted my hands a few times to try and decrease the shaking. I decided after it had no effect that the shaking was probably three fourths the cold. The other one fourth I would just have to deal with. 

“It gets worse,” he said sadly. 

“Comforting,” I muttered. “Do I still have a guide for a little while?” 

“Yes Emma. For a little while longer.” I smiled at him in thanks before we continued down the tunnel. 

“Okay so how do I know that I’m going the right way once we part ways?” I asked, and he pointed at the original body of water that I’d fallen into that I hadn’t realized we’d still been following. 

“This main underground river leads the way. All the tunnels that are branched off have been built by people like me. Too afraid to move forward so we needed somewhere to live,” he explained. I nodded slowly. Now that he had explained it, my question seemed pretty dumb. 

“Makes sense,” I said and made a mental note to keep talking to myself after we parted ways. I wasn’t sure whether or not talking actually staved off hypothermia, but it would keep me energized and alert. Maybe I could blame the dumb question on the cold. 

“I miss the Doctor. Him and his double cardiovascular system,” I said as another harsh shiver passed through me. My Draconian companion gave me a confused look. 

“I travel with him. He has two hearts and body heat to spare. He’s also smarter than me and would have realized that the main tunnel was probably the tunnel to follow,” I explained with a smile and adjusted my arms. 

“Nonsense. I’m certain he would have been just as confused.” 

“You’re kind, but there’s no way.” He frowned in what looked like thought. 

“I believe that I’ve heard of the Doctor. From before. He’s a Time Lord correct?” 

“Yes, that’s correct.” I gave him a sideways glance. “You’re not going to hold that against me, are you? Because people have before.” He shook his head. 

“The Time Lords were a powerful, but neglectful race. They called themselves superior yet refused to raise up those around them. The Doctor is different, and I respect him for that,” he said. I shrugged. 

“He’s the only Time Lord I’ve ever met. Probably the only one I’ll ever meet so I don’t really have a frame of reference,” I said. He gave me a small grin. 

“He is your frame of reference now. All your thoughts of Time Lords will be based on him,” he said. I laughed slightly. 

“I don’t know if that’s fair to the rest of the Time Lords. I’ve spent a long, long time daydreaming about the Doctor. He’s managed to live up to my expectations, but I don’t think everyone else could,” I said. 

“I assume that is not the secret that weighs on your soul,” He said lightly. 

“No that’s not it. I mean I haven’t told him about that yet, but I was also told that I would know the moment and I haven’t known it yet,” I said. “I honestly had forgotten about my secret. I suppose I started to believe all the half truths that I told people.” 

“Why tell them in the first place?” 

_“Emma the truth is always best.”_ I jumped again at my Dad’s voice and rubbed my hands up and down my arms harshly as I swallowed. 

“They hurt less.”


	28. Chapter 27

“Well that’s just fantastic,” I muttered as I looked down at the water flowing in front of the path I’d been following. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure how long I’d been walking solo for, but I knew it was long enough that I was probably getting pretty close to hypothermia. 

“When did you get so sarcastic?” I jumped at the sound of my Dad’s voice and wrapped my arms around myself. 

“I do not need this right now.” 

“I don’t know if you’ve ever really needed me.” I shrieked in shock and scuttled back a few steps as a physical copy of my Dad appeared next to me. “Now Emma that’s a bit extreme.” 

“I am not doing this,” I said and hopped down into the water, which somehow felt colder than the last time I’d been in it and started walking as fast as I could. 

“I think that doing this is rather the point of this,” my Dad said as he gestured vaguely. I tried not to dwell on the fact that he was reminding me so much of myself and wondered if I would be recognizing myself in my Mom if a different parent had appeared before me. 

“I owe the Doctor an apology if this is what my sarcasm is like from the other end,” I said and walked faster. 

“We did try to curb that out of you.” 

“No, you and Mom just fought about it whenever I let it slip,” I said and decided I’d let the anger warm me up. “My therapist also said that I use it as a coping mechanism and it is absolutely your fault that I ever needed one in the first place.” 

“Now Emma I think that’s a bit extreme.” My Dad’s face fell with his words. 

“Is it?” I snapped and stormed forward with renewed purpose. 

“What did I ever do to you?” he asked, and I spun to face him for the first time since he’d appeared. 

“You –” I caught myself from spewing it out at the last second. “You know damn well what you did.” 

“Harsh,” my Dad said as I entered the final cavernous room and spun in a circle looking for a door or a set of stairs or anything. “You don’t even know why.” 

“You’re right. I don’t and that isn’t my fault now is it?” I snapped as a lump formed in my throat and hot tears grew at the corner of my eyes. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried about my Dad specifically, I’d spent too many years lumping my parents into one big pile of trauma. 

“Do you really think crying is something you need to be doing right now?” My Dad asked critically. I sat down on the floor even though the water was deep enough that doing so meant I was up to my chest. 

“I didn’t have a plan beyond get here and its been a bit of an emotional walk so, yes crying is something I’m going to do.” I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I blinked as I tried to remember if I had stopped shivering or if I wasn’t noticing anymore, because one was very bad and the other only slightly bad. I was avoiding looking at my Dad because he was pacing back and forth, which made me anxious because he always used to pace when he and Mom fought when I heard a loud scraping sound come from the roof. 

I stood up and squinted against the bright light as the roof slid open and I caught sight of a blurry Doctor leaning over the hole. 

“Emma thank God.” There was so much relief in his voice I could practically feel it as I lifted my arms up towards him. 

“Get me out,” I begged, and the Doctor leaned into the hole and grabbed me under the armpits. 

“It’s okay I’ve got you.” He lifted me about halfway before it felt like a rope tightened around my ankle. I flashed the Doctor a wild look as I stopped moving and panic descended around my lungs. 

“Emma stay with me. Let us be a family again,” My Dad’s voice wafted up towards us and I kicked desperately against the force holding my ankle. I felt the Doctor’s hands tighten as best they could in my shirt and a distant part of me wondered what the Doctor was seeing in the tunnel below me. 

“Emma look at me. He’s not real. He died in the crash.” I started shaking my head wildly at the Doctor’s words. “Emma, I promise its not him.” 

“My Dad wasn’t in the car!” I screamed and the line of tension holding me snapped and the Doctor swung me out of the hole and into his arms in one motion. “My Dad wasn’t in the car.” 

“Shhh. Emma easy.” Logically I realized at the Doctor’s soothing words as he wrapped his jacket around me and held me to him that I was shaking, my teeth were chattering, I was sobbing and hyperventilating, and he was probably concerned that I was going to bite a hole through my tongue. But now I couldn’t stop because the words were finally spilling out and I had to keep going. 

“My Dad left. Ten days after my Mom’s funeral I woke up and my Dad was gone, and he never came back. He just left. And I started telling people that I lost him in the crash because it was easier.” I took a deep shuddering half choked breath. “It has always been easier to be Emma the Orphan instead of Emma the girl whose Dad abandoned her. Because Emma the Orphan gets pity and the other Emma gets whispered wonderings about what’s so wrong with her that her own Dad couldn’t stay.” 

“Emma, I understand why you didn’t tell me. Really, I do, and we can talk about that later, but right now I need you to breathe for me please.” I looked up at the Doctor, who was looking at me like he was mildly terrified and nodded as I twisted to press my lips against his shoulder to warm them and took a shaky breath through my nose. 

That was the last thing I remembered until I woke up in my bed in the apartment I shared with Lillian and realized that I had quite a cold raging through my body. Lillian told me that the Doctor had used his telepathic powers to put me to sleep, which he apologized profusely for about ten times, and brought me home because he wanted me to wake up in a place that my brain would think was familiar and comforting. Apparently, the TARDIS didn’t count for some reason he hadn’t bothered to explain to either of us. 

“I want you to leave me here for a week,” I said after I had been caught up on some events that I had missed, and Lillian crept out of my bedroom to mix up a cup of tea. 

“You want me to what!?” The Doctor shouted incredulously, staring at me like I’d just suggested he abandon me on some uninhabited planet. 

“I want you to leave me here for a week,” I said and sniffled as I reached for yet another Kleenex and blew my nose. 

“No,” he said and leaned against the door frame of my bedroom to feign nonchalance. He wouldn’t actually step foot in my room, probably because of some silly Gallifreyan morals. Which was dumb because I was assuming he had carried me in here in the first place. 

“Look. I’ve got a cold. I’m going to be stuffed up, exhausted and miserable for about a week. And if you stay here during that time you are going to go bat shit crazy from boredom. So, I am ordering you to go somewhere and have fun,” I said, and the Doctor frowned harder. 

“I’ve got a time machine, I could just jump ahead and pick you up,” he said, and I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“You could, but my option will make me feel better.” I paused and fisted the blankets. “I need to be settled for a bit.” I admitted softly, and I could see the exact moment when the Doctor sighed and gave up. He crept hesitantly into my room and sat on the side of the bed. 

“I’m sorry your new-found immortality doesn’t prevent you from getting sick,” he whispered. I’d been right about the morals, but not exactly in the way I was expecting. And I couldn’t help but notice that he was being suspiciously silent on the bomb that I’d dropped earlier. I smiled up at him instead of rolling my eyes or calling him out on it. 

“A girl can’t have everything. Now go. Remember you are ordered to have fun.” He smiled at me and swept the hair off my forehead to give me a kiss before bouncing out of the room. 

It was the middle of the night three days later when I was dragged out of the cold medicine induced coma by the sound of the TARDIS materializing in the corner of my room. I squinted against the very bright light that poured out of the doors. 

“You missed,” I muttered sluggishly and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. The Doctor came and sat on the side of my bed and I realized belatedly that he was crying. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked, fully awake now, and reached for him. Instead of shrugging me off like I expected him to he collapsed against me. 

“I tried to save them, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t save them.” Now that I was cradling him I could see that he wasn’t just crying, he was sobbing. I made a few soothing noises as I ran my fingers through his hair. He told me about what had happened on Mars, how he had tried to defy history and save them all and failed. 

“We actually send people to Mars?” I’d meant to say something to make him feel better, but apparently my inner child got out first. The Doctor gave a wet chuckle. 

“I probably shouldn’t have told you that,” he said. His sobs had slowed to a steady stream of tears, but he was still clutching me as if the world depended on it. “I’m sorry to put this on you.” 

“What do you think I’m here for?” I asked rhetorically. 

“Sometimes it feels like I don’t make good differences,” he whispered brokenly after a few seconds of silence. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to think of what to say when it hit me like a lightening bolt; the time had arrived. 

“The first time you met me wasn’t the first time I met you,” I said slowly, and the Doctor sat up away from me slightly to look at me. 

“What?” I smiled and squeezed his arm. 

“The first time I met you I was six. It was my sixth birthday actually and my parents were having a fight, so I went down the road to this little spot with trees where I went sometimes when they fought and when I got there the TARDIS appeared. And then you popped out and we had a picnic. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches.” I watched the realization click in his brain. I’d mentioned the sandwiches on Typus when I thought I was going to die. 

“What did I tell you?” He asked. 

“You told me about Rose and the Slitheen in Downing Street. You told me you met me on my twenty sixth birthday. And you told me that you couldn’t imagine travelling without me. I don’t know if it matters, but I clung onto your words. Every time it got really bad after my parents I’d just tell myself that you said you couldn’t imagine what it would be like without me. Maybe you were just placating me, but it helped.” I took a deep breath and squeezed his arms again. “You do make differences Doctor. Good differences. They’re just smaller things on the grand scale of things that mean the world to others.” 

“I wasn’t placating you Emma,” the Doctor said simply, while he was staring at me like I was a marvel. He leaned forward and pressed a lingering kiss to the top of my head. “Thank you.” 

“Anytime.” 

“And when do I go tell you these things?” 

“I don’t know when for you. You never said. I guess you’ll know.” 

“Why do I get the feeling you just quoted me?” I grinned. 

“Because you aren’t an idiot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Time Lord Victorious in my AU. Just the Doctor trying his best as he has done many times before and since.


	29. Chapter 28

“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” I asked, and the Doctor grinned at me. 

“I figured we should try for something a little bit calmer, so we are going to a party,” he said. I pursed my lips and tipped my head to the side. 

“You know the last party we went to we had to stop an assassination. Although considering what we’ve done since that might actually be calmer.” The Doctor laughed. 

“Come here for a second,” he said with a little hand wave. I got up and wandered next to him with a slight smirk on my face. 

“Why? Concerned I’m going to fall out of the TARDIS again?” I teased, and he rolled his eyes with a fond smile. 

“No, I promised to teach you how to fly,” he said and set my hands on a few controls. I twisted my head to look at him in surprise. 

“What? Now?” He nodded. “Mid flight?” 

“Well technically we’re landing, and this is the easiest part,” He said as he settled his arms on my elbows, probably so that I would know he was there and so that he could direct my hands and arms if need be. 

“Okay,” I said. “Walk me through this so I don’t fling us into a sun.” He laughed but he did as he was told, walking me through the process until we shuddered to a halt and the TARDIS groaned unhappily. I jerked my hands from the controls. 

“Sorry sorry I think I pulled that last lever too quick,” I said. 

“Little bit, but you still did a great job Emma,” the Doctor said as he released my elbows. “We’ll do a take off next.” 

“I’d rather perfect a landing before I start learning a take off if it’s all the same.” I spun around and hooked my arms around the Doctor’s shoulders tightly. “Thanks for teaching me.” 

“Anytime,” he said. 

“Technically you can only teach me one time unless I get amnesia.” He gave my shoulder a gentle shove. 

“Don’t get cheeky.” I grinned as we headed for the door and stepped outside. 

“I’ll be as cheeky as I please. So, what is the locale of our party?” I asked as I glanced around at the patio of what looked like some kind of a spa resort mixed with a high-class restaurant that was facing a lake. 

“Earth,” the Doctor said. I rolled my eyes. 

“Now who’s being cheeky?” I studied the lake in front of us carefully trying to see if I recognized it from pictures. “Earth’s a decently sized planet you know.” 

“We’re in the Mediterranean,” the Doctor said with a smile. 

“So, Greece?” I guessed because that’s generally what people meant when they said that. 

“No, I mean we are in the Mediterranean.” I frowned. 

“What?” I asked, and he pointed at the lake. 

“The Mediterranean Sea has been shrinking for several billion years to the point that people have forgotten it used to be huge, now it’s just that piddly little lake. We’ve come to the send off for the Mediterranean Sea, more or less. In about fifteen months from now the supply for the lake will be drying out so this is the last time it will look nice so a few people bearing the knowledge of when are going to show up.” At this he pulled out his psychic paper and tapped the top of my head with it before taking a half step back and extending his arm out. 

“You always bring me to the coolest places,” I said as I slid my elbow in his. He grinned delightedly at me. 

“I try.” He slid the door open and extended his psychic paper to the employee who immediately walked up to us as soon as we stepped through, which is when I realized that the party was already in full swing. I glanced down at my skirt and T-shirt. 

“Am I under dressed?” I whispered, and the Doctor shook his head. 

“Nah. The party guests are going to love your supremely vintage Earth style,” he said after the employee cleared us and he had snatched two drinks off the tray of the nearest roving waiter. He handed me one and I glanced up at him in question. “Fruit juice.” 

“I guess that since it’s several billion years in the future the human race doesn’t die out anytime soon,” I said as I sipped my juice and the Doctor shook his head while he scanned the party guests. 

“What you lot? You’re the most indomitable species I’ve ever met. By this point the human race has spread itself across the universe and built new civilizations and new cultures as it interacted with alien races.” He had a fond look on his face as he talked until his eyes landed on someone out in the crowd and he pulled a disgusted face. 

“What? Who did you see?” I asked as I rocked up on my tip toes and tried to see what he had. The Doctor reluctantly pointed out a blonde woman across the room, who was laughing in a way that made her perfectly manicured curls bounce lightly. “She’s pretty.” 

“Outwardly,” the Doctor said instantly. I looked at him in surprise. 

“I don’t know if I’ve ever heard you be mean before. Who is she? How do you know her?” I asked, and the Doctor sighed. 

“She’s Lady Cassandra O’Brien. She claims to be the last pure human because no one in her family has bred with any aliens. Last time I saw her she possessed me and Rose, and the time before that she tried to kill a whole bunch of people.” The Doctor made another face that I couldn’t quite place. 

“What did you do?” I asked teasingly. He sent me a guilty look. 

“I let her dry out.” I gave him a confused look and he extended his hand slightly and wiggled his fingers at me. “Do you mind if I just show you?” 

“No go ahead.” I leaned forward to meet him halfway and was presented with a few images of Cassandra stretched out like a trampoline and sort of exploding when she dried out. 

“It was right after the war. I wasn’t really in a good place.” I reached out and squeezed his arm. 

“I understand I’m just kind of shocked is all. You don’t seem the type,” I said. He let out a rough laugh. 

“I’m a multifaceted person.” Before I could say anything further a girl with green skin swept up next to me and gently fingered the sleeve of my t-shirt with a smile. 

“Wow your clothes are so cute! They’re like super vintage!” She said, and I grinned. 

“Thanks. I love your dress too.” She ran her hands over the flounces of her red dress and blushed slightly. 

“Oh, this old thing?” I nodded, and she smiled back at me before grabbing my wrist. “You should come meet my friends.” The Doctor was gently pushing my shoulder before I could even begin to turn around to ask him if it was okay, so I nodded and followed along behind her. 

When we reached the two other girls, one teal and the other red, they introduced themselves to me as Thea, Camillia and Genevive and spent a few minutes cooing over my skirt and running shoes combination. It all felt very flattering and it was fun because they filled me in on all the gossip about some of the more famous party goers. They debated the most furiously over whether or not someone called the Face of Boe would come to the party or not. 

“Who’s the Face of Boe?” I asked and Camillia got a delighted look on her face. 

“No one really knows. He’s a big deal though, like some kind of ambassador or something, but again no one really knows for sure” she said, and Thea leaned forward dramatically. 

“That’s why its so fun to wonder about him. He’s a great big mystery so anything could be true.” The conversation was cut off by a very loud cutting remark towards one of the waiters by Lady Cassandra. I was beginning to see why the Doctor didn’t like her as everyone crowded around her laughed. 

“I heard Lady Cassandra is thinking about another surgery,” Camillia said under her breath and Thea gasped in delighted shock. 

“Again? She does know that there’s only so much medicine can do?” Thea said. 

“Apparently not,” Genevive muttered while glancing over her shoulder towards Lady Cassandra, who was skimming the party guests and flashed me a harsh look. I ducked my head instantly 

“Apparently she’s not fond of me.” Thea tutted gently and fluffed up my hair. 

“Of course, she isn’t. You showed up wearing older vintage Earth clothes than she did and you’re much younger and prettier.” I laughed at Thea’s words and Camillia stepped forwards. 

“You are! You’re just more natural than her,” Camillia said. 

“You’re also not a huge cow,” Genevive added and I laughed again. 

“Pure human is just boring,” I said, and the girls all laughed. 

“We must sound awfully shallow Emma, I’m sorry,” Thea said and turned her blue eyes to me with a small pout on her face. 

“No, you sound like girls gossiping about celebrities, which is a nice change.” They all gave me a sweet smile in response. 

“That was fun,” I said to the Doctor as I wandered up next to him after about half an hour of idle chit chat with the girls. He smiled at me before he frowned slightly and cupped my cheek gently. 

“Are you feeling alright? Your face is pink,” he said. 

“I think I had a few glasses of not fruit juice. Lillian always says it takes about three drinks for me to pink up,” I said. He chuckled. 

“I’m glad you’re having fun. Try not to get drunk though. I’m not sure if I’m ready to handle that,” he said, and I laughed. 

“You probably aren’t.” The Doctor’s eyes landed on someone in the crowd behind me and light up in surprised delight. 

“Who do you recognize now?” I asked as I spun and tried to look where he was looking. 

“Come on. I’ll introduce you.” He grabbed my hand and led me towards a giant group of people who were gathered around a giant head in a jar, who I guessed was the Face of Boe judging by his reception. 

“First head in a jar. Very sci fi. Lillian is going to be so jealous,” I said quietly to the Doctor who laughed boisterously as we encountered the crowd. I was concerned that the Doctor was going to have to flash his psychic paper around so that we could actually get close to the Face of Boe, when it appeared that he saw the Doctor because he swept up to us gracefully. 

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” the Doctor said as he squatted down in front of them. I followed his actions and fussed with my skirt slightly so that I wouldn’t risk a fashion disaster. 

_‘Nor I you’_ The Face of Boe’s deep voice resonated around my head and seemed to have a slight teasing edge to it, as if the two of them knew something I didn’t. Not that that was much of a surprise anymore. 

“Oh, hey cool. Telepathic,” I said before I really thought about it and the Doctor’s face fell into a pout while the Face of Boe chuckled. 

“I’m telepathic,” he said. 

“Yours is still cool too.” I patted his knee soothingly. He gave me a fond smile before it turned a little devious as he faced the Face of Boe again. 

“it is very nice to see you again Jack,” the Doctor said casually, and I felt my mouth drop open in shock. 

_‘You as well Doctor’_

“Holy shit!” I cried a touch too loud as I looked between the two of them. “I have so many questions.”


	30. Chapter 29

_‘I don’t think I have the time to answer them all’_ the Face of Boe said with another chuckle. 

“He hasn’t even answered all of my questions,” the Doctor said. 

“This is nuts,” I said and then blushed slightly. “In a good way.” The Face of Boe laughed again. 

_‘You are refreshing as ever Emma’_ I blushed again at that and ducked my head so that I could try to hide my pleased smile. The Doctor leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple gently as if he was trying to reinforce the Face of Boe’s words. 

“Should I refer to you as the Face of Boe or by Jack? Because honestly, it’s getting a little confusing in my head,” I said, and the Doctor laughed again. 

_‘I have not felt like Jack for a very long time’_

“I’m sorry to hear that. Face of Boe it is.” I studied his face carefully as I tried to figure out how he was reacting to our conversation. 

_‘Doctor that man is trying to get your attention.’_ The Doctor grumbled in distaste as he was tapped on the shoulder and stood up to speak with him. I raised my eyebrow up at the Face of Boe. 

“That seemed very planned,” I whispered so that the Doctor couldn’t hear me. 

_‘Sometimes the Universe works in mysterious ways’_ he said. I arched my other eyebrow up at him. 

“You sound like the Doctor,” I said and got a chuckle from him in response. 

_‘The song is ending Emma. The Doctor thinks it is his song, but it isn’t. It’s yours.’_ I frowned in confusion and shifted my eyes to the Doctor to check that he couldn’t hear what the Face of Boe was saying. 

“What do you mean?” I asked, and a vision unfurled in front of my eyes. 

_I was standing in the TARDIS and I watched as the Doctor came in and looked over my shoulder and when I twisted around, there was another version of me was standing a few steps behind me. Her hair was a little bit longer, brushing her shoulder blades instead of her jawline like mine. And instead of the confused look that I was probably wearing, she looked angry._

_“I can not believe you locked me in the TARDIS!” She hissed and the Doctor winced and some of the anger fluttered off her face in concern._

_“It was the Master, Emma. I had to keep you safe.” He winced again, and both I and my other self moved towards him at the same time and paused when he held up his hand. “Stay there. I’m regenerating, and it can be a little violent.”_

_“Okay. I guess I look forward to your next face then. I’ll miss this one though.” The Doctor laughed before he tilted his head back and the golden energy exploded out of him. I watched as it filled the console room and the other me jerked like something slammed into her before falling to the floor. I could tell by the way she had fallen that the other me was dead, and that might have been the weirdest thought I’d ever had._

_The vision flashed forward to a newly regenerated Doctor cradling me in his arms as he wept into the top of my head. It reminded me vaguely of how he’d held me on Typus Seven._

_The vision warped again to the Eleventh Doctor standing in front of the Face of Boe._

_“Please. I need to know there’s a world out there where I can save her.” The Doctor begged the Face of Boe with a kind of desperation I’d never seen before._

_‘You can’t save her,’ The Face of Boe said._

_I watched this new Doctor crumple to his knees as he closed his eyes before his face softened and a single tear slid down his cheek._

_‘But maybe she can save herself,’ the Face of Boe said and the Doctor looked up._

_“We have to try.”_

_The vision changed again to the Doctor looking straight ahead like he could actually see me._

_“Emma if you are seeing this you_ Can’t _let me get in the radiation chamber. That’s the moment you have to change. Don’t let me drop you off somewhere and come get you after either. Regardless of what I say I need you there and I’m sorry if that’s selfish.” The Doctor sucked in a huge breath. “The moment will come with Four knocks Emma.”_

The vision snapped away just as the Doctor knelt back down next to us, grumbling under his breath. 

“Apparently we are monopolizing the guest of honour’s time,” the Doctor muttered, and I laughed weakly. I must have done it weaker than I thought because the Doctor turned to frown at me in concern. 

“Are you okay?” He asked, and I nodded. 

“Fine,” I lied. “We should definitely stop monopolizing the guest of honour. I’m sure Lady O’Brien hates me enough.” 

_‘I’m afraid it is time for us to go our separate ways again.’_ The Face of Boe said before it seemed like he was looking right at me. _‘It is not your fault.’_

“What’s not my fault?” I asked. I got the feeling that he was smiling sadly and knowingly, but he refused to answer. I hoped it didn’t have something to do with the information he’d passed on from the other universe. The Doctor helped me up off the floor and pressed a finger to his lips. 

“Spoilers,” he said, and I rolled my eyes. 

“Okay, River Song, whatever you say,” I said and the Face of Boe chuckled again as the Doctor laughed loudly and winked at me. 

_‘Until next time Doctor and Emma,’_ he said, and the Doctor rested a hand on the glass in farewell and I suddenly realized that it had probably been years since the Face of Boe had physical contact with someone. 

“He’s over 4 billion years old,” I said as I wrapped my arm around the Doctor’s and stepped a touch closer to him as I watched the Face of Boe glide away from us after the Doctor had dropped his hand. 

“Being around him makes me feel young,” the Doctor said and gave me a wink. “It doesn’t happen very often.” 

“You’ve barely lived a tenth of his lifetime.” I reached up to wipe a tear away quickly. Between the Face of Boe and the pain on the Eleventh Doctor’s face I knew I wouldn’t be very successful in keeping them away. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize,” the Doctor murmured as I sniffled and tried to wipe away more tears. 

“He’s just so lonely. Couldn’t you tell? It’s like it pours off him.” The Face of Boe’s loneliness was even easier to perceive and a little bit more heartbreaking than the Doctor’s, which was really saying something. 

“Emma you are one of the most empathetic people I have ever met,” the Doctor said as he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I took that to mean that he could tell as well. 

“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I said, and I felt the Doctor smile before he gave me another kiss. 

“Good. It was intended as one.” We both fell silent for several moments before I cleared my throat to chase away the last of the tears. 

“Will I forget?” 

“What?” The Doctor asked as he twisted to face me and spun me slightly. 

“Well I mean, human memory span is finite right? So, if I bump into Thea or Camillia or Genevive in a hundred years or so, I won’t remember them. Will I just keep gradually forgetting things over the course of forever?” I asked. I hadn’t realized I was so worried about the prospect until this moment and judging by the Doctor’s face he hadn’t thought about it at all. He swallowed carefully like he was going over every single possibility before he reached up and cupped my cheek with one hand while squeezing one of my hands with his other. 

“No. No you won’t forget, I won’t let you. I’m a Time Lord with telepathic powers and I can always give you a boost. I won’t let you,” he said. I smiled at him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. 

“Thank you,” I said and pulled away from the hug before I bit my lip. “Do you know why I know things?” 

“What are you talking about?” He asked with a frown. 

“Remember with the Weeping Angels? Where I just knew that the image of an Angel would become one?” His frown deepened and his hands rested on my shoulders as he thought about it. “And the waiter with Bismarck.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I thought he looked suspicious and I had no reason to. I shouldn’t have thought he was suspicious.” 

”I’d forgotten about that,” he said as his fingers flexed on my shoulders while he weighed this over. 

“And I didn’t trust the ghosts. Well Cybermen,” I added, and he looked at me properly. 

“Emma how long have you been worrying about this?” I shrugged guiltily. 

“Since the Angels.” 

“Emma.” 

“I know.” I flushed guiltily. “I just keep thinking I’ll find a good time to bring it up and never do.” 

He fell silent for a little while, just staring at me and I tried to be patient and wait for him to finish thinking. Finally, he cracked a smile and reached up to cup my cheek. 

“I suppose it’s like the Angels said, you’re the Girl Touched by Time. You have time energy in your blood and supposing the only effect would be freezing your biological clock was short sighted of me. Most likely the knowledge you keep having is knowledge that trickled back from the future or another universe.” 

We mingled for a few minutes until the Doctor got swept up in a very scientific conversation with another party goer, and I took the opportunity to think about everything that the Face of Boe had shown me. 

Firstly, I had died in another universe when that Doctor had regenerated. Which was a little bit crazy to think about if I was being perfectly honest. 

Secondly, the only way to prevent my death was to make sure that my Doctor didn’t get into a radiation chamber, whatever that turned out to be. 

Thirdly, four knocks featured into this somehow. It must have been important if the other Doctor had mentioned it. 

Finally, I knew I couldn’t tell my Doctor. I looked up at him guiltily as I came to this conclusion because he would hate the idea of me being in danger, but I knew from the other Doctor’s words that I needed to be there if only for emotional support. 

“Are you sure you’re alright Emma?” The Doctor asked, and I smiled up at him as I snapped back to paying attention to my surroundings. 

“I’m perfectly fine. I just zoned out a little bit because of the science,” I said teasingly, and he laughed. 

“I don’t mean to exclude you,” he said. 

“I abandoned you to your own devices for almost an hour when I was chatting.” 

“That’s different.” 

“You’re right it is different because we’re both equally good at mingling and I am very bad at science,” I said, and he rolled his eyes at me while fondly shaking his head. 

“I don’t know who told you that you’re bad at science, but you seem perfectly capable to me,” he said. I was tempted to remind him about Mark but decided bringing that up would probably send us down a different path all together. 

“School grades told me. My biology requirement for my history degree was hell,” I said. 

“Well I think you’re brilliant,” he said and planted a kiss on my forehead. I smiled up at him. 

“And I suppose that your opinion is the only one that matters?” I teased, and he nodded. 

“Absolutely.” I laughed before I cut myself off with a yawn that I wasn’t quick enough to catch. 

“Are you ready to head back to the TARDIS?” he asked and must have realized that I was about to protest that we hadn’t been at the party very long. “Emma we’ve been here almost two and a half hours.” 

“Well in that case,” I said, and the Doctor laughed. We started walking towards the balcony we’d entered from. “This was very nice. We should do it more often.” 

“It’s because I didn’t wear my tux,” the Doctor said, and I snorted. 

“I wouldn’t think a Time Lord would be superstitious,” I said. 

“I’m telling you Emma it’s cursed. Cross my hearts.” He reached up and made the hand motion as I laughed. 

“I don’t know I might need proof of this curse,” I said with a slight eyebrow raise. He laughed and linked my fingers with his. 

“And you said you’re bad at science,” he teased with a pleased look on his face as he swung our hands back and forth slightly. 

“I think this is more being skeptical than science, but sure whatever you say,” I said, and he rolled his eyes. 

“You’re so stubborn.” 

“You’ve noticed!” I said delightedly. He smiled at me. 

“And sarcastic.” 

“What did you say earlier?” I tipped my head to the side and pursed my lips dramatically as I thought about it. “Oh right, I’m a multifaceted person.” 

“Quit using my words against me this instant,” he said with a twist of his lips. I grinned up at him. 

“You’ll have to make me,” I challenged, and the Doctor’s eyes light up. I realized about two seconds too late that laying a challenge down at the Doctor’s feet was not a good idea. 

“Into what’s left of the Mediterranean with you then,” he said and took a step forward. 

“No!” I shrieked and took off running towards the TARDIS even though I knew the Doctor had longer legs than me and would absolutely catch me. 

I did manage to pull him into the Mediterranean with me in the end so it turned out to be worth it.


	31. Chapter 30

“What is happening?” I asked as the Doctor and I stumbled into one another as the TARDIS started moving. 

“I believe we’re being summoned,” he said as he steadied me carefully before he took off for the console room. I decided not to comment on the fact that he was still wearing a Stetson and a lei since we’d been trying to organize the wardrobe a little bit before heading off to our picnic that the Doctor had promised me. 

“Summoned to where?” 

“That’s the big question. There aren’t many people in the universe who can do something like that,” he said and frowned deeply as if he might have an idea, but he hoped it wasn’t true. 

“I have a feeling that you might know who it is,” I said, and he sighed as we parked. 

“I guess we’ll find out.” He ran for the door and I followed behind him and swore lightly under my breath at the cold as we stepped out into a vast snow filled planet. There was an alien standing not too far from us. 

“Ah! Now, sorry. There you are. So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me. It’s been a little while since I last saw you. I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt, saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison.” 

“I still think we should have called it Emma,” I said teasingly as I wrapped my arms around myself against the cold. The Doctor sent me a look before he shuffled over to me and slid out of his overcoat so that he could throw it over my shoulders. 

“Anyway, what do you want?” The Doctor asked as he looked at our summoner again. 

“You should not have delayed,” they said, and the Doctor raised an eyebrow up at them. I couldn’t quite figure out why he was being so prickly. 

“I only just received your summons. There’s also the fact that the last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon, and I'm in no hurry for that.” I jerked in shock but managed to not gasp out loud so that the Doctor wouldn’t notice my surprise. I hadn’t thought that this would happen so soon after what the Face of Boe had told me. 

“You will come with me.” 

“Hold on. Better lock the TARDIS.” The Doctor lifted a remote key and pointed it at the TARDIS and the light flashed as it beeped, and the doors locked. I raised an eyebrow up at him as he flashed me a delighted smile. 

“See? Like a car. I locked it like a car. Like. It's funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh.” I laughed and he shot me a grateful look for it. 

“Is that what you do when I sleep? I seem to recall you claiming that you were being productive,” I said, and he laughed as well before he turned back to the Ood. 

“So how old are you now, Ood Sigma? Ah,” he paused as he seemed to notice the city for the first time. “Magnificent. Oh, come on, that is splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?” 

“The city is very lovely,” I said as I buttoned the overcoat up to try and block the wind a little better. 

“One hundred years,” Ood Sigma said. 

“Impressive,” I said as the Doctor’s face fell into a frown. 

“Then we've got a problem. Because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way back to the twenty first century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal,” he said, and I sighed. 

“Just once I’d like the impressive thing to not be a bad thing,” I said. 

“And the Mind of the Ood is troubled,” Ood Sigma said. I made a mental note to ask the Doctor if he could expand on some things for me later. 

“Why, what's happened?” He asked. 

“Every night, Doctor, every night we have bad dreams.” Ood Sigma spun and started walking away from us and the Doctor grabbed my hand to hurry us after him. 

“What’s the Mind of the Ood?” I asked, and the Doctor explained how the Ood had several brains and how they all worked in conjunction with each other. We both fell silent when we entered a cave and there was a group of Ood sitting cross legged in a circle. 

“Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood. Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. He has come,” One of the Ood said and I flashed a look at the Doctor to see if he knew what was going on. 

“Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming,” Ood Sigma said, and the Doctor and I slowly slid to the floor. 

“So. Right. Hallo,” the Doctor said. I waved awkwardly because I was a little on edge due to the tense atmosphere of the room. 

“You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join,” the Ood chanted. The Doctor linked hands with me and the Ood beside him, so I copied him and closed my eyes. I could instantly feel how all the Ood were connected to each other and it definitely felt different than when the Doctor was in my head to show me something. A vision of a laughing man who looked like the former Prime Minister flashed before my eyes suddenly and I jumped before I could stop myself. 

“Sorry,” I muttered, but none of the Ood seemed to be paying any attention to me. 

“He comes to us every night. I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now,” the Elder Ood said. 

“That man is dead,” the Doctor said firmly, and I made another mental note to ask about it. 

“There is yet more. Join us. Events are taking shape. So many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man so scared.” I closed my eyes again and was met with a vision of an older gentleman sitting in his living room. 

“Wilfred. Is he all right?” the Doctor asked before he plowed into his next question. “What about Donna. Is she safe?” 

“You should not have delayed, for the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth. Even now, the king is in his Counting house.” Another vision flashed behind my eyelids, this time of a man and his daughter getting photographed. I felt like I should recognize them. 

“I don't know who they are,” the Doctor said, and I felt better about not knowing them either. 

“And there is another. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten.” This time the vision showed me someone that I absolutely recognized. It was Lucy Saxon locked in a cage. 

“The Prime Minister’s wife?” I asked. 

“The Master's wife,” the Doctor said, and I had the feeling that he wasn’t answering me. 

“We see so much but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?” Ood Sigma asked. 

“She was.” The Doctor paused like he couldn’t figure out how to phrase it. “It wasn't her fault, she was-- The Master, he's a Time Lord, like me. I can show you.” I waited for whatever the Doctor was showing the Ood to show up for me, but instead another voice entered my head. 

_‘Is it your song ending or his?’_ An Ood voice asked me and I sighed. 

_‘Neither I hope.’_ I said. 

_‘The song is ending.’_

_‘Can the song not be changed?’_ I challenged, and it almost felt like a tiny bit of respect flashed through to me. 

_‘Perhaps.’_ I opened my eyes to the Doctor pressing a hand into my shoulder. 

“Part of him survived. Emma, we have to go!” He said, and I climbed up off the floor. 

“Sorry I was processing,” I lied and tried to ignore the flash of guilt. 

“But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark. The Ood have gained this power to see through time, because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil, and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future, and the present, and the past.” 

“What do you mean?” The Doctor asked. 

“This is what we have seen, Doctor. The darkness heralds only one thing,” the Elder Ood said before they all chimed in at the same time. 

“The end of time itself.” I couldn’t quite explain it, but it suddenly felt like all the Ood were looking at me and I suddenly recalled the fact that the Weeping Angel had called me ‘The Girl Touched by Time’. I really hoped that that wasn’t them foretelling that my hopes of changing the song weren’t going to work. The Doctor took off back towards the TARDIS and I hurried after him, but still heard the last words spoken by the Ood. 

“Events that have happened are happening now.” A shiver raced down my spine and I ran to catch up to the Doctor. He had basically already started the take off sequence when I skidded to a stop in the TARDIS and threw the doors closed behind me. I pulled off his overcoat and threw it on top of the Stetson and lei that the Doctor had set on the jump seat as I came to stand next to him. 

“Have you been having bad dreams?” He asked tightly, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I thought about it. 

“Yes, but I didn’t think anything of it. I get them sometimes,” I said. 

“Do you remember what they were about?” 

“No. I don’t.” 

“You didn’t think to mention that?” The Doctor asked a little tersely. Normally I would call him on it, but I didn’t really blame him at the moment. 

“Well considering humans don’t generally remember most of their dreams I didn’t think that was abnormal,” I said. The Doctor clearly wasn’t happy with my answer, but I was pretty sure he was mostly upset about the situation. 

“Where are we going?” I asked as I took a few steps back to hold onto the railing. I’d never seen the Doctor like this before, so I decided it would probably be smart to get out of the way before I could figure out how to put my best foot forward. 

“Broadfell prison,” he said before he frowned at me. “Why are you standing all the way over there?” 

“I’m trying to stay out of the way,” I admitted sheepishly before continuing so that the Doctor couldn’t say something. “Isn’t that where Lucy Saxon went after she shot her husband?” 

“Yes,” the Doctor said. 

“And he was a Time Lord?” I got a terse nod. “Why didn’t he regenerate then?” 

“He refused.” I winced at the Doctor’s tone and realized I had just accidentally jabbed my finger into an aching wound. He must have noticed my facial expression because he softened immediately. 

“I’m being dumb. Don’t worry about me,” I said instantly, and he gave me a look. 

“Emma I am being entirely unfair. The Master was the only other Time Lord who consistently interfered with other races, but he interfered so that he could be the all-powerful leader,” he said. 

“Not a great style of interference,” I said because I couldn’t think of anything better to say, and the Doctor laughed weakly. 

“No not really.” He ran a hand through his hair and over his face. “We were friends in school.” 

“That just makes it worse somehow,” I said. “Okay but he got shot. I watched him die on live television and he didn’t regenerate. So how is he here now?” A small pinprick of pain flared behind my eyes. 

“Well hopefully he’s not here yet. His signet ring survived, which is enough Time Lord DNA to resurrect him. His followers will need his wife to properly resurrect him, so they’ll do the ceremony at the prison.” 

“And we’re going to stop it?” I asked just as the TARDIS landed with a harsh thud. 

“That’s the goal,” the Doctor said as he raced for the door. He threw the door open and we stepped out onto the lawn of a burning building. I coughed as the breeze shifted the smoke towards us and fanned my hand in front of my face. 

“There’s like no way we were lucky enough that this fire took away our problem, right?” I said before I realized that right now probably wasn’t the time for my sarcasm. 

“Somehow I don’t think so.”


	32. Chapter 31

“So why are we here at the docks?” I asked after we had finally paused. 

“He made it out,” the Doctor confirmed a few moments later and I sighed deeply. 

“I was really hoping that the universe was just going to give us this one,” I said, and the Doctor let out a rough laugh. 

“We need to go east,” he said and started walking purposefully in that direction. 

“I am not enjoying constantly having to run to catch up to you,” I said after I had done just that. The Doctor flashed me an apologetic look. 

“Sorry.” I patted his arm in forgiveness. 

“It’s okay because every time you leave me behind in the dust, I am counting it as an exemption from Rule One for me.” 

“I did not accept these terms,” he said immediately, and I laughed. 

“Too bad.” The Doctor smiled before he let out a large sigh and pinched his nose. “What’s wrong?” 

“I should have left you back at the TARDIS.” He shot me a hopeful look over his fingers. “You could go back now.” 

“There is no way in Hell I am going back to the TARDIS when you are right here in the thick of it. Quite frankly I am offended that you even suggested it,” I said fiercely and crossed my arms over my chest. I thought for a moment that the Doctor was going to argue with me about it a little bit more, but he must have seen that I was firm in my convictions because he sighed in defeat. It was probably for the best since I would have fought him tooth and nail over it, especially considering that I would need to be there to make sure I could change the moment that needed changing. 

“Well I had to try even if I knew you would never go for it,” he said, and I laughed. 

“Look at you learning,” I said just as the Doctor suddenly paused and sniffed the air deeply with a finger extended. It was only a few seconds later before the sound of four consecutive metallic noises echoed through the docks. The Doctor took off in the direction it was emanating from and I raced after him as quickly as I could. We rounded a corner and came upon the Master, who was most definitely the former Prime Minister, just in time to see his body flash so that his skeleton showed. 

“Please, let me help. You're burning up your own life force,” the Doctor begged as I tried to blink away the sudden firey headache that had descended upon me. The two of them started running again and I stumbled after them as best I could, but the Doctor was stopped once he whipped around the next corner by Wilf and a few other senior citizens. 

“Oh, my gosh, Doctor. You're a sight for sore eyes,” Wilf said, and I reached out to steady myself against a building as the pain in my head continued to grow. 

“Out of my way!” The Doctor said tersely, but I could tell that the Master had disappeared because he let out an aggravated noise. I would have called him out on his rudeness, but I was beginning to lose the ability to think. 

“Doctor I think my head is about to explode,” I said in a surprisingly calm manner. I wasn’t sure I had spoken loud enough for him to hear me, but I felt his hands on my face in an instant. 

“What’s happening?” He asked, his voice thick with concern. 

“I looked at the Prime Minister, no sorry The Master-“ I cut myself off as I flinched as the pain spiked. “And then my head just started to hurt.” 

“Time energy. It’s trying to make you remember something that you can’t remember. I’m going to make it better okay?” I nodded even though it hurt to move and a heartbeat later the headache went away as I suddenly knew everything about ‘The Year that Never Was’ and the truth about the former Prime Minister. 

“That explains so much actually,” I said as I rubbed my temple slightly. The Doctor pressed a kiss to my forehead in comfort and relief. “Did you just give me some of your memories?” 

“More like I copied and pasted them.” Finally, we turned towards Wilf and his friends who were staring at us with unbridled curiosity. I didn’t really blame them. 

“Did we do it? Is that him?” 

“Tall and thin, big brown coat.” 

“The Silver Cloak. It worked. Because Wilf phoned Netty, who phoned June, and her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box, and her neighbour saw this man heading east,” the woman said, and the Doctor sucked in a deep breath. 

“Wilfred?” He asked. 

“Yeah?” Wilf asked 

“Have you told them who I am? You promised me,” the Doctor said faux casually. 

“Subtle Doctor, very subtle,” I said. 

“No, I just said you were a doctor, that's all. And might I say, sir, it is an honour to see you again.” Wilf gave him a salute and I noticed that the Doctor didn’t put up a fuss about it which was interesting because he usually hated salutes. Out of the corner of my eye I watched the woman in the group give him an up and down look. 

“Oh, but you never said he was a looker. He's gorgeous. Take a photo,” she said, and I bit down on my lip so that I wouldn’t laugh at the expression on the Doctor’s face. 

“Not bad, eh? Me next,” one of the gentlemen said. 

“I'm Minnie. Minnie the Menace. It's a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man,” Minnie said. 

“I daresay it’s been a while since he’s had a photo with a beautiful woman,” I said lightly, and Minnie winked at me while the Doctor flashed me a betrayed look. 

“Just get off him. Leave him alone, will you?” Wilf said. 

“Hush, you old misery. Come on, Doctor. Give us a smile. That's it,” Minnie said, and I mimed making a huge smile with my fingers. One of the guys held up a phone. 

“Hold on. Did it flash?” 

“No, there's a blue light. Try again,” Minnie said. 

“I'm all fingers and thumbs.” I thought about offering to take the photo for them to speed the process along because we were trying to catch up to one of the Doctor’s greatest enemies, but then I remembered how much enjoyment I was getting from this and decided I’d wait another minute. 

“I'm really kind of busy, you know,” the Doctor protested weakly. 

“Oh, it won’t take a tick. Keep smiling.” I watched Minnie’s hand drift down as she looked at the Doctor with a sugary sweet look on her face. 

“Is that your hand, Minnie?” He asked as he jumped slightly. I burst out laughing. 

“Good boy.” The Doctor let out a huge sigh before settling into take some photos. 

“I’m Emma,” I said to Wilf after he had given up trying to convince his friends to stop. 

“I’m Wilf. My granddaughter used to travel with him,” Wilf said and gave me a little salute. 

“Donna Noble right?” I clarified. He looked delighted that I knew her. 

“Yes, that’s her. Has he mentioned her?” he asked, and I nodded. 

“A little bit. Enough that I recognize her name, but not enough to hurt old wounds of his.” Wilf looked a little bit sad at my words. 

“Does he miss her?” He asked, and I nodded. 

“Of course, he does.” The Doctor walked back up to us, looking slightly aggrieved, and gestured at Wilf. 

“There must be some reason why you came and found me. We need somewhere to talk,” he said. 

“I’ve got just the place. We can get the Silver Cloak to drop us off.” Wilf walked over to his friends and the Doctor pursed his lips slightly. I elbowed him a bit harshly. 

“I know you’re stressed, but for heaven’s sake you’re being rude,” I said as we walked towards the minibus that Wilf had waved us to. 

“Emma this is big. Bigger than anything we’ve ever faced,” he said, and I sighed and linked my fingers with his. 

“I know that, but that just means that we need to work together and not lose our cool,” I said as I stepped onto the bus. I had just settled in when my cell phone rang so I flipped it open. 

“Hello?” I asked because I always forgot to check and see who was calling. 

“Emma are you on Earth?” Lillian asked with excitement in her voice. 

“As a matter of fact, I am. 2009 as well too,” I said as the bus started to pull away. 

“The prison where the Prime Minister’s wife was sent burned down last night!” Lillian said, and I winced. 

“Yeah I know. I was there,” I said. 

“You were there?! Why?” Lillian asked, and I looked at the Doctor who gave a sort of half shrug so I took that to mean he wouldn’t mind if I told Lillian everything. 

“Do you want the short version or the long version?” I asked. 

“Which makes more sense?” Lillian asked. 

“Probably the long version,” I said and proceeded to tell her everything I knew, with the Doctor adding small corrections under his breath while he glanced around to make sure the Silver Cloak weren’t listening in. 

“I’m going to go camp out in the bathroom,” Lillian said as soon as I finished, and I laughed. “You and the Doctor be careful okay?” 

“Okay,” I said and bit down on my lip so that I wouldn’t blurt out my concerns about the four knocks. “Lock the door tight.” 

“Will do,” Lillian said and hung up. I slid my phone back in my pocket just as the bus pulled to a stop. 

“Come on, then. Here we are, hurry up,” Wilf said as we stepped off the bus before he turned around and waved at his friends. “Bye. You behave, bye.” 

“Over here, come on.” Wilf ushered us towards a café. 

“What's so special about this place? We passed fifteen cafes on the way,” the Doctor said, and I sighed deeply. 

“We literally just talked about rudeness Doctor,” I said as we all settled into a table by the window. I thought about ordering a cup of tea, but then decided I’d better just settle on water in case we had to leave quickly. 

“Oh, we had some good times, didn't we though? I mean, all those ATMOS things, and planets in the sky, and me with that paint gun. I keep seeing things, Doctor. This face at night,” Wilf said, and I suddenly remembered what the Elder Ood had said, about how he thought every creature in existence was dreaming the same dream. 

“Who are you?” The Doctor asked, more to himself than Wilf. 

“I'm Wilfred Mott,” he said and straightened slightly in his chair. 

“No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a few hours,” the Doctor said. 

“Yeah I had to wait twenty years,” I said teasingly into my glass. The Doctor flashed me a half smile for my trouble. 

“Well, I'm just lucky I suppose,” Wilf said casually. 

“No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again like something's still connecting us.” It was moments like this that were really difficult with travelling with the Doctor, when he just casually referenced years of history between himself and someone else. 

“What's so important about me?” Wilf asked. 

“Exactly. Why you?” 

“Again Doctor, rude,” I said. The Doctor gave me a brief look and I shrugged at him. 

“I'm going to die,” the Doctor said. 

“Well, so am I, one day,” Wilf said. 

“I’d say me too, but now I’m really not sure,” I said, and the Doctor chuckled, and his lip quirked up on the one side. 

“Don't you dare.” He glanced between both of us. “Either of you.” 

“All right, I'll try not to,” Wilf said. I smiled at the Doctor weakly. 

“Will do.” The Doctor smiled at us a little bit more before his expression went serious again. 

“But I was told. He will knock four times. That was the prophecy. Knock four times, and then.” He made a sort of gesture that made it clear he was talking about dying and a lump appeared in my throat. 

“Yeah, but I thought, when I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body,” Wilf said. I nodded along because that was the basics of regeneration as far as the Doctor had explained to me. 

“I can still die. If I'm killed before regeneration, then I'm dead. Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away, and I'm dead.” The Doctor frowned as Wilf looked guiltily out of the window across the street. “What?” 

“I'm sorry, but I had to,” Wilf said after we had all seen Donna climbing out of her car. “Look, can't you make her better?” 

“Stop it,” the Doctor said harshly, and I blinked at him, wondering what they were talking about. 

“No, but you're so clever. Can't you bring her memory back? Look, just go to her now. Go on, just run across the street. Go up and say hello,” Wilf said, and the Doctor shook his head. 

“If she ever remembers me, her mind will burn, and she will die,” the Doctor said, and I made a mental note to ask about it later. 

“She's not changed,” the Doctor said as Donna started arguing with the parking enforcement officer. 

“Nah. Oh, there he is,” Wilf said and pointed out a young man running up to Donna, clearly there to placate both of them. “Shaun Temple. They're engaged. Getting married in the spring.” 

“That’s lovely,” I said. 

“Another wedding,” the Doctor said with a slight tinge of surprise in his voice. 

“Yeah.” The Doctor frowned as if something had occurred to him. 

“Hold on, she's not going to be called Noble-Temple? That sounds like a tourist spot.” I laughed as Wilf smiled and shook his head. 

“No, it's Temple-Noble.” 

“Good for her. Hyphenating,” I said. 

“Right. Is she happy? Is he nice?” The Doctor asked. 

“Yeah, he's sweet enough. He's a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he's on minimum wage, she's earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. And then sometimes I see this look on her face, like she's so sad, but she can't remember why.” 

“She's got him,” the Doctor said with a head nod towards the pair. 

“She's making do,” Wilf said. 

“Aren't we all?” The Doctor mused, and I reached out and squeezed his hand tightly. 

“I’m glad you’ve got Emma,” Wilf said, and I smiled at him. 

“We’ve got each other really,” I said. Suddenly the Doctor’s head went up. 

“I know where he is.”


	33. Chapter 32

“You know when you said that you knew where the Master was, I thought that you knew where he was at that moment,” I said as I gestured around the dark sky. 

“It’s not exactly an exact science,” he said with a slight pout as he pulled the door open to the warehouse. 

“I do have to admit that I am loving the abandoned warehouses. Very very creepy. Fits the theme nicely,” I said, and the Doctor gave me an exasperated look. 

“Promise me that you will stay behind me,” he ordered. 

“And now we are nailing the clichés. Very nice,” I said, and he sighed deeply. 

“Emma will you please stay behind me because I am so very concerned for your safety that it may drive me insane?” He asked, and I laughed before I nodded. 

“I promise that I will stay behind you.” We rounded a corner and the Master fired a bolt of energy at us from his hands. The Doctor shoved me to the side until we were protected by a bunch of crates and he pushed me to the floor as another blast of energy flew over our heads. 

“Stay,” he ordered, and I nodded as he stepped out from behind the crates and took a few steps forwards before a third blast hit the Doctor square in the chest until he fell to his knees and the Master caught him enough to slow his fall before the Doctor hit the ground. 

“I had estates. Do you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now,” the Master said like he was carrying on some conversation that only he remembered, and I weighed the pros and cons of stepping out of my hiding spot to see if the Doctor was okay. 

“All that eloquence. But how many people have you killed?” The Doctor asked as he looked up at the Master. 

“I am so hungry.” 

“Your resurrection went wrong. That energy. Your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself,” the Doctor said, and I stood up from my crouch slightly. 

“That human Christmas out there. They eat so much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood, food. Pots, plates of meat, and flesh, and grease, and juice, and baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot. It's so hot.” 

“Stop it.” I couldn’t tell if the Doctor was talking to me or the Master, but I froze anyways. 

“Sliced. Sliced. Sliced.” 

“Stop it.” Now I was sure that the Doctor was talking to the Master, so I took a few half shuffles forward, so I could peer around the crate. He could get mad at me later. 

“It's mine. It's mine. It's mine to eat and eat and eat.” The Master looked like he was on the brink of insanity and on the brink of starvation. 

“Stop it. What if I ask you for help? There's more at work tonight than you and me,” the Doctor said. 

“Oh yeah?” The Master asked. 

“I've been told something is returning,” the Doctor said. 

“And here I am,” the Master said with a wide grin as he spread his arms out wide like a showman. 

“No, something more,” the Doctor said, and it was starting to look like he was getting his strength back a little bit. I gripped the crate so that I wouldn’t go racing out to help him out. 

“But it hurts,” the Master said almost childishly. 

“I was told the end of time.” I sucked in a deep breath in shock and hoped that they wouldn’t be able to hear me. 

“It hurts. Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Stronger than ever before. Can't you hear it?” The Master asked. 

“I'm sorry,” the Doctor said, like it was something he’d said many times before. 

“Listen, listen, listen, listen. Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen,” the Master begged, and the Doctor paused like he was humouring him. 

“I can't hear it,” he said. 

“Listen.” The Master clapped his hands onto the Doctor’s temples like they were communicating telepathically. I was next to the Doctor before I could stop myself and had my hands on his shoulders as soon as he jerked away. 

“What?” the Master asked, like this was the moment that he had realized I existed and like he was trying to talk to the Doctor as well. 

“But-“ the Doctor sounded very confused as he carefully held his arm out like he was trying to protect me that much further, even though I was directly behind him. 

“What!” The Master snapped. 

“I heard it. But there's no noise. There never has been. It's just your insanity. What is it? What's inside your head?” The Doctor said. 

“It's real. It's real. It's real!” The Master shot up at his words and ran away from us. The Doctor and I sprung up and raced after him as quickly as we could. 

“Why did you come out from behind the crates?” the Doctor asked, and I shrugged. 

“I don’t know I just- I saw him touch you and I panicked, and I really didn’t mean to and I’m sorry,” I said. He grabbed my hand and squeezed tightly. 

“I was hoping that he wouldn’t see you,” he said. 

“If it was so that he couldn’t use me against you or whatever idea you have bouncing around in your brain, I don’t know how you were planning on keeping that up,” I said, and he shrugged. 

“I’ve been making it up as we go,” he said, and I laughed. 

“Of course. What else do I expect?” We skidded around a corner and came across the Master staring at us and the Doctor moved so that he was standing slightly in front of me. I stood up on my tip toes so that I could see properly over his shoulder. 

“All these years, you thought I was mad. King of the wasteland. But something is calling me, Doctor. What is it? What is it? What is it?” It seemed like the Doctor was going to answer the Master when a sudden helicopter appeared and shone a spot light down on the Master before another one illuminated us as well. I blinked against the bright light and watched a pair of military people descend from one of the helicopters and inject the Master with something. 

“Don't!” The Doctor cried and took several steps forward before others in the helicopter fired at the ground in front of the Doctor to make him stay back and the Master was lifted up into the helicopter. 

“Let him go!” He shouted and ran forward before I cried out in pain as something struck me just above the collar bone. The Doctor whirled to face me immediately with a look of horror on his face as I started to fall as my knees buckled under me. “Emma!” 

I saw the Doctor fall to the ground as well just as the world went black. 

I blinked awake to the sight of the Doctor leaning over me with a very concerned look on his face which melted into relief when I groaned and reached for my shoulder. 

“Easy easy. It was only a tranquilizer,” he said soothingly. I couldn’t quite tell if he was reassuring me or himself, but I nodded anyways. 

“Good. I would hate to have gotten shot again,” I said lightly, and I watched several emotions flicker across the Doctor’s face before he settled on amusement. 

“Technically you did get shot again. Thanks for the spike in my blood pressure by the way,” he said, and I laughed as I sat up carefully. 

“Who’s being cheeky now?” I said. He pressed a kiss to the top of my head while he helped me fully off the ground. 

“I can’t let you have all the cheek,” he said before his eyes drifted shut. “I can’t tell where they took the Master.” 

“We will. First, I think we should regroup and go back to the TARDIS,” I said as the Doctor carefully pulled the neckline of my shirt to the side so that he could take a look at the bruise I received from the tranquilizer. 

“Why the TARDIS?” He asked as he gently traced the red mark over my collarbone with his thumb, and I shrugged with one shoulder. 

“Good jumping off point?” I suggested, and he laughed. I bit my lip while I tried to determine if now was a good time to ask about Donna before I just decided to go for it. “What happened to Donna?” 

“Why do you want to know?” The Doctor asked, and I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“Because I can tell that seeing her dragged up painful memories and those things are generally good to know, we need to talk about something on the walk back to the TARDIS and you just very badly tried to convince me that I didn’t want to know,” I said, and the Doctor sighed deeply. 

“It happened with the Daleks and the Reality Bomb. Donna was involved in a human-Time Lord metacrisis.” 

“Which is how the other you ended up in the other universe with Rose,” I said, and he nodded. 

“Donna got all the knowledge that comes along with being a Time Lord and her brain couldn’t handle it. All that knowledge was burning her brain up and it was going to kill her. The only thing I could do was take away her memories.” 

“Her memories?” I repeated. 

“She doesn’t remember meeting me, or anything about me and she never will. She never can. It would kill her.” 

“You took her memories. All her memories of you.” I wasn’t really talking to the Doctor, mostly trying to wrap my head around it. I looked up at him. “I would rather die.” 

“Emma, I had no choice,” he said, but his face clearly said that Donna had said something similar to my words before he took her memories. 

“I would rather die,” I repeated fiercely. 

“If I had to choose between you dying and you living, I would make the same choice,” the Doctor said just as fiercely. I whirled to face him. 

“I have known you since I was six! I have dreamed of travelling with you for twenty years! Do you really think that I would still be living if I didn’t have those memories of you?” I hissed, and he jerked in alarm. 

“Emma,” he paused like he didn’t know what to say. All my anger rushed out of me as he read an implication that I hadn’t intended, and I looked down at my feet. 

“I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that you have been there my whole life.” I looked up at him. “I wouldn’t be me without all those memories. If you took them away, then the me that I am would die.” 

“Emma, I promise that if I am ever faced with the same choice, I will let you choose.” He picked up my hand and sandwiched it between his. “Even if it kills me, I will let you choose.” 

“Thank you,” I said and pulled my hand away, so I could throw my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry that I got so angry about it.” 

“I will second guess that choice for a very long time.” The Doctor hugged me back tightly 

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry that you felt you had to make that choice. I’m sorry that I brought it up. I’m sorry that we can’t make it better for Donna.” 

“That’s an awful lot of apologies,” he said with a smile and kiss to the top of my head. 

“Yes, well I don’t know what else to say,” I said as we released each other. He cupped my cheek and smiled at me. 

“TARDIS?” He asked, and I nodded in agreement. 

“TARDIS.” I said.


	34. Chapter 33

“Hello again Wilf!” I said and waved at him as he stepped out of his house and into his yard. 

“I thought you were going after that man?” Wilf asked, and the Doctor groaned. 

“I lost him. I was unconscious. He's still on Earth, I can smell him, but he's too far away,” the Doctor said, and I raised my eyebrow up at him. 

“Wait you mean that the ‘not exact science’ that found him the first time was your sense of smell?” I clarified, and the Doctor nodded in a reluctantly sheepish manner. Now that I knew that it made sense that the Doctor hadn’t wanted to tell me earlier. 

“Listen, you can't park there. What if Donna sees it?” Wilf asked and jerked his thumb at the TARDIS. 

“You're the only one, Wilf. The only connection I can think of. You're involved, if I could work out how. Tell me, have you seen anything? I don't know. Anything strange, anything odd?” The Doctor asked, and I could tell how much it was bothering him that he hadn’t been able to concoct a better idea. 

“Well, there was a-“ Wilf paused like he wasn’t sure that it was relevant. 

“What? What is it? Tell me,” the Doctor said with just a hint of desperation mixed with excitement in his tone 

“Well, it was. No, it's nothing,” Wilf said. 

“Think-a think-a think. Maybe something out of the blue. Something connected to your life. Something,” the Doctor pressed. 

“Think-a think-a think? That’s a new one, even for you,” I said with a slight eyebrow raise. 

“Emma,” the Doctor whined slightly, and I grinned at him. 

“Well, Donna was a bit strange. She had a funny little moment, this morning, all because of that book,” Wilf said after a few moments. 

“What book?” The Doctor asked. 

“His name's Joshua Naismith,” Wilf said as he held the book out to the two of us. 

“That's the man. I was shown him by the Ood,” the Doctor said at the same time as I groaned and hit my forehead. 

“I’m such a huge idiot. I knew I should have recognized him,” I muttered under my breath. 

“By the what?” Wilf asked. 

“By the Ood,” the Doctor said, and I rolled my eyes. 

“I’m sure that will clear up all of the questions that Wilf has,” I said. 

“What's the Ood?” I held out my hands in a _‘see’_ gesture and the Doctor shrugged at me. 

“They're just the Ood. But it's all part of the convergence. Maybe? It may be touching Donna's subconscious. Oh, she's still fighting for us, even now. The Doctor Donna.” I assumed that The Doctor Donna had something to do with the Metacrisis we had talked about before, so I didn’t bother to ask as an older woman came out of the house. 

“Dad, what are you up to?” She asked before her eyes fell on the Doctor and her face twisted. “You! But- Get out of here.” 

“Merry Christmas,” the Doctor said amicably. 

“Merry Christmas. But she can't see you. What if she remembers?” I was fairly certain that this woman was Donna’s mom, but I couldn’t remember her name from when the Doctor had mentioned it offhandedly and now seemed like a bad time to ask. 

“Mum, where are those tweezers?” Donna called from the inside of the house and she planted her feet more firmly. 

“Go,” she ordered, and the Doctor dragged me to the TARDIS while I waved. 

“I'm going,” the Doctor said. 

“Yeah, me too,” Wilf said as he stepped up next to us. 

“Oh no, you don't,” she said. Now that I thought about it a little bit more, I was pretty sure her name was Sylvia. 

“Mum? Gramps?” Donna called, and I could tell that she was closer to us now. 

“Dad, I'm warning you,” Sylvia said. Wilf gave her a little half wave. 

“Bye see you later,” Wilf said. 

“Bit old for hide and seek,” Donna said. Sylvia pinned Wilf with a glare. 

“Stay right where you are,” she said. 

“You can't come with me,” the Doctor said. 

“Why can’t Wilf come?” I asked with a pout and a slightly over dramatic flutter of my eyelashes. The Doctor snorted down at me. 

“You're not leaving me with her,” Wilf said and gestured at Sylvia. 

“Dad!” 

“Fair enough,” the Doctor said as he opened the door and stepped aside so that we could get in. 

“Mum?” Donna called again, sounding slightly more frustrated. I shut the door behind Wilf and I could just hear Sylvia’s last protests as the TARDIS dematerialized. 

“Plan?” I asked as I bounced towards the console. 

“Naismith. If I can track him down. Ah.” The Doctor’s eyes had fallen on Wilf, who was looking around the console room with a little bit of wonder in his eyes. “Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. Do you like it?” 

“I thought it'd be cleaner,” Wilf said honestly, and I burst out laughing. 

“We’re working on it, but there is several hundred years of stuff in here,” I said while the Doctor made a noise of offense. 

“Cleaner? I could take you back home right now,” the Doctor threatened teasingly. 

“Listen, Doctor, if this is a time machine, that man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him? 

“That would be too easy,” I said, and the Doctor gave me a look. I smiled at him innocently. 

“I can’t go back inside my own timeline. I have to stay relative to the Master within the causal nexus. Understand?” The Doctor asked. 

“Not a word,” Wilf said, and the Doctor laughed. 

“Yeah that’s usually about how it goes,” I said with a smile as the Doctor grinned widely and reached across the console with his hand extended. 

“Welcome aboard,” he said, and Wilf clapped his hand to the Doctor’s. 

“Thank you,” Wilf said. 

“Emma do you know anything about Joshua Naismith?” The Doctor asked, and I shrugged. 

“Lillian wrote a paper about him when we were in university, but I can’t remember much other than that he’s rich. I don’t even know what industry he works in,” I said. The Doctor hummed in thought at that as we landed. I went and opened the door for Wilf and he stepped out and looked around in amazement. 

“We've moved. We've really moved!” He said excitedly, and I nodded. 

“You two should stay here,” the Doctor said. 

“We already had this discussion. My answer has not changed since then,” I said. 

“Not bloody likely,” Wilf said in chorus with me and I nodded sharply. 

“And don't swear. Hold on.” The Doctor held up the remote key that he had used to lock the TARDIS when we saw the Ood, but this time the TARDIS disappeared. 

“What is your plan if we need to make a quick getaway?” I asked after I had made sure that the TARDIS hadn’t simply gone invisible. 

“I’ve just put her a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the Tardis. That's the last thing we need,” the Doctor said. 

“That’s true,” I said. 

“This way,” the Doctor said and led us into the grounds. “What do you know about Naismith Wilf?” 

“Are you repeating questions just because you want both of us to feel included?” I asked as we ducked behind a bush so that we could wait for a patrol to pass by us. The Doctor made a face that I decided to take as a yes since he didn’t bother to answer me. 

“That book said he's a billionaire. He's got his own private army,” Wilf said. 

“Down here.” The Doctor opened a small door in an archway and lead us down the hallway. I frowned up at the fact that there were cobwebs on the ceiling despite the fact that the door had opened without a squeak and missed the cable on the floor until I tripped on it. I let out a small cry of shock and the Doctor caught me before I could lose my balance too badly. 

“Honestly Emma I know your self preservation is bad, but I didn’t think it was bad enough that you refuse to watch where you’re walking,” the Doctor said with a teasing glint in his eyes. 

“Sorry I got distracted by cobwebs. What are the cables for?” I asked, and the Doctor shrugged as Wilf toed them gently. 

“I don’t know. It must be very big,” the Doctor said. 

“Some kind of computer?” Wilf asked, and the Doctor tipped his head to the side. 

“No, it’s definitely bigger than that,” he said before heading down the hallway again. Wilf gave me a confused look and I shrugged at him because I didn’t like it very much when the Doctor was vague like that. 

“The shatter threads have harmonised, the fibre links intensified and the multiple overshots have triplicated.” A woman’s voice drifted out of the room at the end of the hall and the Doctor paused in the doorway to shove his hands into his pockets nonchalantly. 

“Nice Gate,” he said, and the woman jumped at his words. 

“Vey technological in here,” I said and gestured around at all the wires and computers. 

“Hello. Sorry,” Wilf said. She reached for the phone and the Doctor pulled a face. 

“Don't try calling security, or I'll tell them you're wearing a Shimmer. Because I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed, or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place,” the Doctor said. 

“I'm sorry? What's a Shimmer?” She asked, and I held up my hand to gesture that it was a good question and see if the Doctor would answer. He pointed the sonic at her and gave her a faux innocent smile. 

“Shimmer,” he said, and the woman suddenly turned green and spiky. 

“Oh, my Lord. She's a cactus,” Wilf said in shock and I bit down on my lip harshly so that I wouldn’t laugh at Wilf’s sudden declaration. 

“At some point I will stop being surprised by stuff like this,” I said as I blinked at her after I had gotten my laughter under control, even though that was probably a little bit rude, but I’d had a long day. And once that thought crossed my mind, I realized that I wasn’t actually sure how long it had been since I’d slept. I decided not to mention it to the Doctor for the time being. He had enough on his mind. 

“He’s got it working, but what is it? What’s working?” the Doctor asked and ran his hands through his hair and moved towards a computer. 

“So, you still don’t know what this is?” I asked and waved my hand around again just as a man entered the room and stiffened at the sight of us. 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, and the Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the new man without turning away from the computer. 

“Shimmer!” The Doctor cried, and the man changed so that he matched the woman. “Now, tell me quickly, what's going on? The Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?” 

“Skeletor? That’s the incredibly topical 80’s reference you’re going to go with?” I asked, and the Doctor shot me an exasperated look as the man and woman, who told us their names were Rossiter and Addams explained that the Gate had been built by Naismith mostly, but a few finishing touches had been put in place by the Master. 

“But I checked the readings. He's done good work. It's operational,” Rossiter said. 

“Who are you, though?” The Doctor asked. “I met someone like you. He was brilliant, but he was little and red.” 

“Wait Bannakaffalatta?” I asked, as I scrambled through the stories that the Doctor had told me, and the Doctor nodded. 

“That’s the one,” he said. 

“No, that's a Zocci,” Addams corrected. 

“We're not Zocci, we're Vinvocci. Completely different,” Rossiter said. 

“And the Gate is Vinvocci. We're a salvage team. We picked up the signal when the humans reactivated it. And as soon as it's working, we can transport it to the ship,” Addams said. 

“So basically, you wanted Naismith to fix it for you and then steal it from him?” I asked, and Wilf chuckled. 

“But what does it do?” The Doctor asked. Obviously, he and the two Vinvocci had decided to ignore my words. 

“Well, it mends. It's a simple as that. It's a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better,” Rossiter said, and the Doctor grumbled slightly and grabbed fistfuls of his hair in frustration. 

“No, there's got to be more. Every single warning says the Master's going to do something colossal,” the Doctor said and I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder in comfort because I could tell he was getting a little anxious. To my surprise and relief some of the tension eased out of his shoulders. 

“So that thing's like a sickbed, yes?” Wilf asked. 

“More or less,” Addams said with a head tilt. 

“Well, pardon me for asking, but why is it so big?” Wilf asked, and I pointed my finger at him in agreement. 

“Oh, good question. Why's it so big?” The Doctor asked. 

“It doesn't just mend one person at a time,” Addams said. 

“That would be ridiculous,” Rossiter added. 

“You’re right only mending one person at a time is completely and utterly ridiculous,” I said sarcastically before I could stop myself. The Doctor gave me an amused look. 

“Who’s being rude now?” He muttered under his breath with a teasing glint in his eyes. 

“I let you have two before I called you on it. You could at least give me the same courtesy,” I muttered back, and he laughed lightly. 

“It mends whole planets,” Addams finished and the Doctor and I both recoiled in shock. 

“Wait what?” 

“It does what?” 

“It transmits the medical template across the entire population,” Addams said, and realization dawned in the Doctor’s eyes. 

“Oh, I know that look. What is it? What have you figured out?” I asked as I stepped right in front of the Doctor. 

“I know what he’s planning,” he said and took off running down the corridor. 

“Oh my God I can not believe we are still doing this,” I said flatly before I raced after him.


	35. Chapter 34

“Turn the Gate off right now!” The Doctor screamed as we skidded into the giant room with the Gate inside it. Naismith, his daughter, the Master and a few other people were scattered around the room. 

“At arms!” One man cried, and all the soldiers lifted their guns and pointed them at us. The Doctor moved half in front of me with his hands raised slightly. 

“No, no, no, no, no. Whatever you do, just don't let him near that device,” the Doctor said desperately. 

“Oh, like that was ever going to happen,” the Master said and in one swift move threw off the strait jacket he was wearing and leaped over the soldier’s heads using beams of energy that were exploding out of his hands straight into the Gate. 

“Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying? Well, look at me now,” the Master said and held his hands out dramatically. I whipped my gaze around the room to see why no one was moving. 

“Deactivate it. All of you, turn the whole thing off!” The Doctor demanded. The Master let out an evil cackle. 

“He's inside my head,” Naismith said as he lifted a hand to the side of his head. The Doctor took a half step forward. 

“Get out of there!” The Doctor screamed, and the Master sent out a blast of energy and it hit the Doctor hard enough that he flew backward and slammed into me since I was still directly behind him and we both hit the ground. I twitched as a few stray bits of energy passed between the two of us. 

“Doctor! Doctor, there's, there's this face,” Wilf said as the Doctor rolled off of me and knelt next to me. 

“What is it? What can you see?” He asked as he brushed my curls out of my face as if he was checking to make sure I was okay. 

“I’m fine. I’m fine you just knocked the breath out of me,” I said. 

“Well, it's him. I can see him,” Wilf said and pointed at the Master. The Doctor got up and moved towards the computer, typing desperately and trying to use the sonic on it. 

“I can't turn it off,” the Doctor said as I heaved myself up off the floor. 

“That's because I locked it, idiot,” the Master said, and I threw him a glare while I made sure my legs would stay under me. 

“Wilfred! Get inside. Get him out.” The Doctor gestured to a pair of glass sided cubicles and entered one and Wilf swapped places with a technician in the other. 

“Just need to filter the levels,” the Doctor muttered to himself as his hands flew over some controls. 

“Oh, I can see again! He's gone,” Wilf said, and I breathed a sigh of relief that Wilf would be fine. 

“Radiation shielding. Now press the button. Let me out,” the Doctor said. I suddenly realized that the cubicles they were standing in was the radiation chamber that the Eleventh Doctor had mentioned and desperately offered a prayer that that wasn’t the moment I had to change because if it was I had definitely failed. 

“You what?” Wilf asked, and the Doctor pointed down at Wilf’s control panel. 

“I can't get out until you press the button. That button there,” he said. Wilf pressed down on the button and I heard the lock switch cubicles and the Doctor stepped out. 

“Are you still okay Emma?” He asked 

“Fine thanks,” I said. 

“Fifty seconds and counting,” the Master taunted. 

“To what?” The Doctor asked. 

“Oh, you're going to love this,” the Master said, and I winced. 

“I find that hard to believe,” I said. 

“What is it, hypnotism? Mind control. You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?” The Doctor asked. I briefly heard Wilf’s phone ring and him answer it, but I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying and I couldn’t tear my eyes off the two Time Lords to see if he was okay. 

“Oh, that's way too easy. No, no, no. They're not going to think like me, they're going to become me. And, zero!” At the Master’s words a huge blast of energy moved out from the Master and the Gate and blasted past the building with enough force that I stumbled when it passed us and the Doctor steadied me. I glanced around the room again and saw that everyone’s face except for the Master, the Doctor, Wilf and I’s faces had gone blurry. 

“You can't have,” the Doctor said with a large amount of disbelief in his voice. 

“What is it?” Wilf asked before he held up the phone in alarm. “Doctor? She's starting to remember.” 

“It’s going to be fine,” I said even though I wasn’t sure that was true just as everyone’s faces stopped blurring and settled on exact copies of the Master’s face. 

“What is it? What have you done, you monster?” Wilf demanded as I blinked at the room at large in shock. 

“Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?” The Master asked and his body doubles went around the room. 

“Or to me?” 

“Or to me?” 

“Or to me?” 

“Or to us?” 

“Breaking news.” My eyes fell on a running TV that I hadn’t noticed before and saw that the person on the other end was also the Master. “I'm everyone. And everyone in the world is me!” 

“I'm President. President of the United States. Look at me!” The Master who had once been Obama said and the audience of Masters applauded. “Ooo, financial solution. Deleted. Ha ha!” 

“Oh my God,” I breathed as the Master turned to the Doctor with a maniacal grin on his face. 

“The human race was always your favourite, Doctor. But now, there is no human race. There is only the Master race.” He let out another evil laugh that almost seemed fitting for a Hollywood movie before he fell silent as his eyes landed on me again. “Except this one apparently. But she is definitely human. Doctor what did you do?” 

“You stay away from her!” The Doctor ordered with a protective arm thrown out before two of the Master duplicates grabbed him and dragged him away from me as another Master duplicate grabbed my arms to hold me in place. 

“Emma!” The Doctor cried just as a gag was shoved in his mouth. 

“Back Off,” I said and kicked out at the Master, who dodged, but stopped and grinned at me as he cupped his ear as if listening to something. 

“Is that time energy flowing through her veins? Oh, Doctor and you say that I’m cruel. How long do you think it will take before her unending days drive her mad?” the Master asked with a twisted grin on his face as his duplicates started tying the Doctor to a trolley and Wilf to a chair. 

“How long did it take you?” I asked with a sugary sweet fake smile plastered to my face. The smile fell off his face and he glared at me as the duplicate holding me forced me into a chair. 

“Now then, I've got a planet to run. Is everybody ready?” The Master asked and I decided to take his non-answer as a victory. I would have crossed my legs primly, but unfortunately, they were attached to the chair. 

“Six billion, seven hundred and twenty-seven million, nine hundred and forty-nine thousand three hundred and thirty-eight versions of us awaiting orders,” Naismith-Master said. 

“This is Washington. As President of the United States, I can transfer all the United Nations protocols to you immediately, putting you in charge of all the Earth's defences,” Obama-Master said. 

“UNIT HQ, Geneva reporting. All under your command, sir.” 

“And this is the Central Military Commission here in Beijing, sir, with over two point five million soldiers, sir. Present arms!” 

“Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship. Nothing to say, Doctor? What's that? Pardon? Sorry?” The Master asked and the Doctor glared at him. 

“I for one think it is absolutely weird that you are making your clones call you sir. That might be a sign of your intense ego mania,” I said, and the Doctor sent me a look like he wanted me to stop antagonizing the Master, but he just kept handing me all these great opportunities. I also didn’t have very much else to occupy me at the moment. 

“You let him go, you swine,” Wilf said. 

“Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss.” 

“Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was,” Wilf said and sat up a little straighter with his words. 

“And he would be just as proud if you were his dad,” I said, and Wilf looked delighted. 

“Hush, now. Listen to your Master.” The Master frowned as Wilf’s phone started to ring in his pocket. “But that's a mobile.” 

“Yeah, it's mine. Let me turn it off,” Wilf said, and the Master walked towards him in a mildly threatening manner. 

“No, no, no, no, no. I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?” He asked. 

“It's nobody. I tell you, it's nothing. It's probably one of them ring-back calls.” The Master ignored Wilf’s words and started searching through Wilf’s pockets. I had a feeling about who was calling, and I was really hoping that this wouldn’t end badly. The Master pulled a revolver out of Wilf’s pocket and gave him a grin. 

“Ooo and look at this. Good man!” He threw the gun on the floor with a clatter and then his hand reappeared with the phone. “Donna. Who's Donna?” 

“She's no one. Just leave it,” Wilf said, and the Master flipped the phone open, but he was far enough away from me that I couldn’t hear Donna on the other end. 

“Who is she? Why didn't she change?” The Master asked and looked at me and I shrugged. 

“Before my time I’m afraid.” If there was one thing, I had lots of practice in it was half-truths though it didn’t have the lasting effect I was hoping for as Wilf spoke. 

“Well, it was this thing the Doctor did. He did it to her. The Metacrisis,” Wilf explained, and I sighed. 

“Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls. Ugh!” The Master groaned. I arched an eyebrow up at him. 

“Jealous?” I asked as I tossed my hair over my shoulder with a head flick. The Doctor sent me another look which I decided to ignore. 

“Find her. Trace the call,” the Master ordered, and I heard the Naismith-Master pass along the order as the Master held out the phone to Wilf. “Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad.” 

“Donna get out of there! Just get out of there. I'm telling you, run!” Wilf said and my heart inched into my throat. 

“She's on Wessex Lane, Chiswick. Open the phone lines. Everyone on Wessex Lane. Red alert,” Naismith-Master said, and I shot a worried glance to the Doctor, but he was sitting there calmly so I cautiously let my worry for Donna dissipate. He must have known something that the rest of us didn’t know for him to not be worried. 

“Run, sweetheart, that's all. Run for your life!” Wilf said and despite my best efforts my nerves spiked as there was several seconds of silence before Wilf spoke again. “Donna? What's happening? Are you still there? Look, I'm telling you to run, Donna. Just run, sweetheart. Just run.” 

“Donna don't think about that. Donna, my love. Don't!” There was a strange crackling that emanated from the phone and I winced at the high pitch before it abruptly cut off. “Donna? What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna.! Donna! Donna!” 

“It’s going to be fine Wilf,” I said, and he looked at me. 

“How do you know?” He asked so I jerked my head at the Doctor who smiled and winked. 

“Because he’s smiling.” The Master stormed over and pulled the gag out of his mouth. 

“That's better. Hello. But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defence mechanism?” The Doctor asked. 

“Doctor? What happened?” Wilf asked. 

“She's all right. She's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep,” the Doctor said soothingly. 

“Sometimes I think that you just forget how to answer a question,” I said. 

“Tell me, where's your Tardis?” The Master asked. 

“You could be so wonderful,” the Doctor said, and the Master looked mildly frustrated. 

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” I asked the Master with an eyebrow raise. 

“Where is it?” The Master demanded. 

“You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough,” the Doctor said as he looked at the Master with that weird middle-distance look that he did sometimes when he got caught in his head. 

“Wow can I sign up for a speech like that?” I was going to add something about how I hadn’t agreed to this suggestion before I realized that the Master actually looked vaguely tempted by the idea. 

“Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?” The Master asked. 

“I can help,” the Doctor said. 

“I don't know what I'd be without that noise,” The Master said, and the Doctor sighed. 

“I wonder what I'd be, without you.” 

“Yeah.” 

“What does he mean? What noise?” Wilf asked 

“It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism,” the Master explained. I thought it was weird that he was offering up an explanation without much of a fuss, but then again, he was talking about himself. 

“What does that mean?” Wilf asked. 

“It's a gap in the fabric of reality. You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts,” the Doctor said, and I winced in sympathy. 

“They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never-ending drums.”


	36. Chapter 35

“Listen to it. Listen,” the Master commanded and held a finger up in the air. 

“Then let's find it. You and me,” the Doctor said. 

“Except. Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good,” the Master said as realization appeared in his eyes. 

“What? What is?” The Doctor asked with a confused look on his face, like he couldn’t quite make the connection that was right in front of him. 

“The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes.” The Master’s form flickered so that we could see his skeleton again and it was startling enough that I let out a squeak of alarm. 

“The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying,” the Doctor said as he shot me a concerned glance. I clenched my hands into fists where he couldn’t see them to steady myself and nodded at him to tell him I was okay. 

“This body was born out of death. All it can do is die. But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said the end of time.” I took a deep breath to lock my spine into place so that the Doctor wouldn’t see the shiver that crept up it. 

“I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help,” the Doctor said. 

“What if I'm part of it? Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor. That's what your prophecy was. Me!” 

“Didn’t I just say something about ego mania?” I asked before I could stop myself, but the Master continued as if he hadn’t heard me. 

“Where's the Tardis?” The Master demanded as he slapped the Doctor across the face. 

“No. Just stop. Just think,” the Doctor prodded. The Master twisted his head and gestured at a guard towards Wilf. 

“Kill him.” I scrambled desperately for something to say that would antagonize the Master enough that he would decide to shoot me first instead as a helmeted guard walked over to Wilf. If I failed at saving myself because I saved Wilf, then it would absolutely be worth it. 

“I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead,” the Master said, and my breath caught in my throat as it hitched as my brain spun uselessly. 

“Don't tell him,” Wilf said bravely. 

“I'll kill him right now!” The Master threatened 

“Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid.” And suddenly I realized once again that the Doctor was way too calm for the situation which meant that he must have known something the rest of us didn’t. 

“Take aim.” 

“You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?” The Doctor asked and I could tell that he was really getting into his groove. 

“Like what?” 

“That guard is one inch too tall,” the Doctor said, and the guard hit the Master on the back of the head with the butt of his rifle to knock him out. The guard pulled off his helmet to reveal that it was Rossiter and I sighed in relief. 

“Oh my God, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life,” Rossiter said as Addams came running in. They both weren’t wearing their Shimmers so they must either have been in a hurry or not worried about being seen. 

“Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast,” Addams said as she hurriedly untied both Wilf and I while Rossiter worked on the straps holding the Doctor in place. 

“God bless the cactuses!” Wilf said and I bit down on my lip so that I wouldn’t smile too widely. 

“That's cacti,” the Doctor corrected, and Rossiter’s head appeared from around him with a mildly horrified look on his face. 

“That's racist!” Rossiter cried and I burst out laughing even though I probably shouldn’t have. 

“Come on! We've got to get out,” Addams said tersely. 

“There's too many buckles and straps,” Rossiter said as he fumbled with the all the stuff holding the Doctor to his trolley. 

“Leave him then, we can get him out later,” I said. 

“Just wheel him,” Addams said, and the Doctor started shaking his head in protest. 

“No, no, no. Get me out. No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no.” We all ignored him as Rossiter tipped back the trolley he was on and we started moving down the hallway as quickly as we could until we came to a fork in the hallway. 

“Which way?” Rossiter asked and Addams pointed down a hallway. 

“This way,” she said, and the Doctor started shaking his head. 

“No, no, no, no, no. The other way. I've got my Tardis,” the Doctor said and pointedly jerked his head down the other hallway. 

“I know what I'm doing,” Addams said assuringly. 

“No, no, no, just -- just listen to me! Emma tell them!” I shrugged sheepishly at his plea because I had no idea which way the TARDIS was, and he groaned. “Why did I think I could depend on your sense of direction?” 

“You really should have known better,” I said. We carried along down the hallway quickly until Addams threw a door open and we all paused as we stared down the staircase in front of us. I glanced up at the Doctor and gave him an apologetic smile before I motioned for Rossiter to keep going. 

“Not the stairs. Not the stairs!” He protested loudly before he was cut off by the harsh bumping of the trolley as it rolled down the stairs awkwardly. 

“Worst rescue ever!” The Doctor declared. 

“We are making it up as we go,” I said. 

“Is now really the time for your cheek?” the Doctor asked, and I flashed him a bright smile. 

“Absolutely. I always do my best sassing when we are either running for our lives or in eminent danger,” I said, and he grumbled under his breath slightly. 

“Just, just stop and listen to me!” The Doctor demanded after we had moved through a few more hallways and just as he spoke the Master ran into the hall with armed guards behind him. I casually stepped in front of the Doctor slightly so that I was blocking him physically from any guns, but so that he would still be able to see what was happening unimpeded. He’d done it enough for me that I felt like I owed him a few even if I knew he would hate it. 

“Gotcha,” the Master said with a smirk. 

“You think so?” Addams retorted as she lifted her arm slightly. The Doctor’s eyes widened as she pressed down on something on her wristwatch. 

“No, no, no, no, don't!” There was an odd lurch in my stomach as the hallway and the Master disappeared and we reappeared in something that looked decidedly spaceship like. I reached for the buckles on the trolley that were holding the Doctor down. He wiggled around madly with a fierce look on his face that I couldn’t quite decipher. 

“Now get me out of this thing!” He demanded 

“Quit wiggling so much and I believe you might get out faster,” I said as Addams and I worked through the buckles and straps as fast as we could. 

“Don't say thanks, will you,” Addams muttered. 

“I’m thankful regardless of what he says,” I said. 

“He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!” The Doctor said and I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Patience is still a virtue and you are still being rude,” I said as Wilf wandered over to a window and looked out. 

“Oh, my goodness me. We're in space!” He cried in excitement. 

“Isn’t it cool?” I asked brightly. 

“Oh, get a move on,” the Doctor said tersely. 

“Maybe I should just record myself saying ‘Doctor you’re being rude’ so I don’t have to constantly repeat myself,” I said idly to myself and the Doctor sent me a flat look. 

“I’m stressed,” he said, and I shrugged. 

“You’ve been stressed before.” I blinked at him innocently until he sighed and rolled his head towards Addams. 

“Addams you have my apologies,” he said, and I grinned at him. “Now come on!” 

“All right,” Addams said as the last strap came undone and the Doctor immediately pointed his sonic at the teleport controls only dropping his arm and rolling his shoulders back after sparks had flown up from the control panel. 

“Where's your flight deck?” He asked as he tipped his head to the side and straightened his tie. 

“But we're safe. We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth,” Addams said. 

“And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire,” the Doctor pointed out and I blanched slightly. 

“Oh, that’s not a fun thought at all,” I said. 

“Good point,” Addams said and the two Vinvocci and the Doctor took off down the hallway before the Doctor paused and looked back at me. I smiled and pointed at Wilf who was looking out the window. 

“Forgetting someone?” I asked cheekily as the Doctor came back to gently lead Wilf away from the window. 

“But we're in space!” Wilf said with wide eyes. 

“Yep,” the Doctor said with a slow nod. 

“It’s one of my favourite places,” I said as I looped my arm with Wilf’s so that I could keep track of him as we headed towards the flight deck. 

“We've got to close it down!” The Doctor cried and Rossiter and Addams looked up at him from the controls with matching looks of disbelief. 

“No chance, mate. We're going home,” Rossiter said. 

“We're just a salvage team. Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better,” Addams said. 

“We're not leaving,” the Doctor proclaimed and before I could blink, he had the sonic in his hand again and the ship went silent. 

“How has your diplomacy gotten worse since I’ve started traveling with you?” I asked as I pinched the bridge of my nose. The Doctor held up a hand. 

“Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush.” We all stood frozen in silence for a few moments before the tension swept out of the Doctor slightly. 

“No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything. You've wrecked the place!” Addams cried. 

“The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit,” Rossiter said, and I thought about commenting on how the alternative very well could have been us being blown out of orbit, but I had a feeling that neither of the Vinvocci would appreciate it. I decided not to think on the fact that I could hold back my sarcasm when I wasn’t in danger. 

“Thanks to you, you idiot!” Addams declared as she stormed out of the room. Wilf turned and looked at the Doctor. 

“I know you, though. I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on. You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flim-flam sort of thing? Eh? Oh, blimey,” Wilf said and I could definitely understand because the Doctor’s facial expression certainly didn’t lend itself to much hope. 

“You alright Emma?” The Doctor asked after the rest of our group had dispersed a little bit and I’d sat down on the floor next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. 

“Yeah I’m just cold,” I said, and I felt him press a kiss to the top of my head. 

“I’m working on it,” he said, and I let my eyes slip shut to the whirring of the sonic. “You put yourself in danger quite a few times today.” 

“I didn’t have anything else to do,” I said. The Doctor made a disgruntled noise. 

“Remind me to never let you get bored again,” he said. 

“It wasn’t really boredom, more like concerned with no outlet.” 

“Fine then. Remind me to never let you get concerned with no outlet,” he corrected himself and I laughed. “You look exhausted.” 

“I’m not really sure how long I’ve been awake,” I said with a tired laugh. I felt him wince slightly under me. 

“You could sleep now,” he offered, which made me think that he had done the math and didn’t really like the answer and I shook my head against his shoulder slightly. “Why not?” 

“I’m worried I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone.” 

“I told you I’d never leave you behind,” he said, and I did remember him saying that during my panic attack with the Cybermen, but somehow it didn’t seem to apply here. 

“This is different. You’d tell yourself that its for my safety and I just need to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” I said, and the Doctor sighed. 

“Do you really think that I could leave you behind after I promised I would let you choose if you were in the same position as Donna?” He asked and truth be told that made a lot of sense. “Beyond that I’m selfish. I want you with me.” 

“Good. I want to be here,” I said, and he pressed a quick kiss to the top of my head. 

“You could sleep just a little bit.” I shook my head slightly. “Why not?” 

“No because I’m pretty sure if I sleep now, I won’t wake up for like fourteen hours,” I said and the Doctor laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *eyes chapter count* Anyone getting nervous?


	37. Chapter 36

“Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?” Wilf asked after the Doctor and I had fallen silent for what I thought were a few minutes, but I was beginning to think I had dropped off a little bit. 

“Just trying to fix the heating,” the Doctor said. 

“Oh. I've always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife is buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?” Wilf asked. 

“I'm sorry.” I flinched at the Doctor’s implication despite myself at the thought and the Doctor pressed a comforting kiss to the top of my head. 

“No, not your fault,” Wilf said. 

“Isn't it?” The Doctor asked sadly. 

“No, it’s really not,” I said softly. 

“Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?” Wilf said in a slightly self-deprecating manner. 

“I'm older than you.” I could hear the slight smile in the Doctor’s voice and smiled as well. 

“Get away,” Wilf said 

“I'm nine hundred and six,” the Doctor said 

“What, really, though?” 

“It’s okay Wilf, I’m still the baby on this ship,” I said, and the Doctor laughed before he answered Wilf. 

“Yeah.” 

“Nine hundred years. We must look like insects to you,” Wilf said, and the Doctor shook his head slightly. 

“I think you look like giants.” 

“Listen, I- I want you to have this. I've kept it all this time, and I thought.” Wilf cut himself off and I heard him pull something out of his pocket. I could tell by the way the Doctor stiffened that it was the gun Wilf had had in the mansion. 

“No,” the Doctor said firmly. 

“No, but if you take it, you could-“ 

“No.” The Doctor repeated just as firmly. “You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then.” 

“Too scared, I suppose,” Wilf said like that was a terrible thing. I’d only held a gun once in my whole life and I’d been so terrified I dropped it because I was shaking so bad. 

“I'd be proud,” the Doctor said. 

“Of what?” Wilf asked. 

“If you were my dad,” the Doctor said. 

“Told you so,” I muttered. 

“Oh, come on, don't start. But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you,” Wilf said. 

“Yeah,” the Doctor said sadly. 

“I mean technically the Ood said that the song was ending,” I said because there were a lot of different forces working at this one. 

“Then kill him first,” 

“And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't.” 

“Hey easy, take a deep breath,” I murmured as I sat up properly and the Doctor sucked in a deep breath as I grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it. “I think that this Time Lord has lived the perfect amount of time personally. And I also know that you would do just about anything to keep the people you care about safe.” 

“If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?” Wilf asked. 

“I don't know,” the Doctor said, and I snorted in disbelief before I could stop myself. He flashed me a look and I shrugged apologetically. 

“Doctor, what happens?” Wilf asked. 

“The template snaps,” the Doctor answered, and I squeezed his hand tightly again. 

“What, they go back to being human? They're alive, and human. Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die,” Wilf said. 

“Who can say no to a speech like that?” I asked rhetorically under my breath though I think the Doctor heard me. 

“Never,” the Doctor said, and I wasn’t sure exactly what he was referring to but at least he didn’t look so upset anymore. 

“A star fell from the sky.” The Master’s voice drifted out of the intercom on the ship and I jumped harshly enough that I jolted the Doctor as well. 

“It’s okay Emma,” the Doctor said comfortingly as he put a steadying hand on my shoulder as the Master continued. 

“Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a Whitepoint Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular. Over and out.” I looked at the Doctor to see if he knew what the Master was talking about as the message cut out and judging by the look on his face he did, and he didn’t like the idea. 

“What's he on about? What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?” Wilf asked. 

“A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning,” the Doctor said. 

“What!?” I said. 

“Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people,” Wilf said with a hint of confusion in his voice. 

“As with basically everything else with the Doctor, I imagine that it’s complicated,” I said as the Doctor scooped up Wilf’s gun and raced down the hallway. By the time we caught up with him he was on the flight deck rushing around fixing multiple things all at the same time. 

“But you said your people were dead. Past tense,” Wilf said. 

“They are,” I said. 

“Inside the Time War. And the whole War was Timelocked. Like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there,” the Doctor explained. 

“Not a bubble, but just think of a bubble. How do your analogies continue to get worse?” I groaned and the Doctor sent me a bit of a mad smile 

“The signal. Since he was a kid,” Wilf said. 

“If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die,” the Doctor said. 

“Well, then, big reunion. We'll have a party,” Wilf said. 

“There will be no party,” the Doctor said. 

“But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful,” Wilf said. 

“I think they sound like snobs personally,” I said. “I also don’t think that they get along well with the Doctor. Difference of opinion.” 

“That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them,” the Doctor said. 

“Time Lords, what lords? Anyone want to explain?” Addams asked in exasperation. She was probably getting very irritated at the fact that she always seemed to be two steps behind. 

“Right, yes, you.” The Doctor pointed at Addams. “This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?” 

“Yeah, what about it?” She asked. 

“So, you've got asteroid lasers!” The Doctor crowed in delight and Rossiter nodded. 

“Yeah, but they're all frazzled,” Rossiter said. The Doctor grinned as he threw a lever on the control panel and two little alcoves opened up on either side of the flight controls. 

“Consider them unfrazzled. You there, what's your name?” the Doctor asked as he pointed at Addams. 

“Addams, we’ve been over this,” I said. The Doctor shot me a little look. 

“I'm going to need you on navigation.” His finger shifted to Rossiter. “And you, get in the laser-pod.” 

“Rossiter,” I supplied helpfully, and the Doctor shot me another exasperated look. I beamed up at him. 

“Wilfred,” the Doctor said. 

“Yeah?” Wilf asked. 

“Laser number two. The old soldier has got one more battle,” The Doctor said. I pointed a finger at myself. 

“And me?” I asked. 

“You’re with me in the driver’s seat,” the Doctor said, and I flashed a thumbs up at him. I wasn’t sure what the Doctor was hoping that I would be able to contribute, but if he wanted me there then I would go with it. 

“This ship can't move. It's dead!” Addams protested. The Doctor smiled in a weird self-satisfied way. 

“Fix the heating?” He asked as he threw another two levers forward on the control panel and the lights tuned back on as the ship powered up. 

“I really should have known you had an idea up your sleeve,” I said. 

“But now they can see us,” Addams said. 

“Oh, yes!” The Doctor said with a wild excitement in his eyes. 

“You know sometimes I think it is an absolute miracle that you have not blown through all your regenerations by making people so irritated that they throttle you,” I said, and the Doctor laughed. 

“This is my ship, and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel,” Addams ordered. 

“There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need,” the Doctor said. I was pretty sure I knew where he was going with this, and I knew that Addams probably wouldn’t like his answer. 

“What's that, then?” Addams asked. 

“Allons-y!” The Doctor cried as he shoved on the controls so that the spaceship was diving though the atmosphere towards the Earth. I wrapped my arms around one of the Doctor’s to keep my feet under me and squealed in a mixture of delight at the adrenaline rush and terror at the fact we were flying straight down. 

“Come on! Come on!” 

“You are blinking, flipping mad,” Addams said. 

“Absolutely,” I said with a grin. 

“You two. What did I say? Lasers,” the Doctor said and pointed at Rossiter and Wilf. Wilf trundled off dutifully while Rossiter looked at the Doctor with confusion. 

“What for?” Rossiter asked. 

“Because of the missiles. We've got to fight off an entire planet,” the Doctor said as he gestured out the window in front of us at all the missiles that were racing towards us. 

“Sometimes I really, really hate your ideas,” I said as the Doctor grabbed one of my hands and wrapped it around a lever. 

“I know you do,” he said. “Keep that lever there.” 

“What am I doing?” I asked as a jerking groaning sound resonated from the ship. 

“Holding the brake so we don’t come in too fast. Let it go when I tell you.” The Doctor said as he started fluttering around. I flashed him another thumbs up. 

“Hey! How does this thing work?” Wilf asked. 

“The tracking's automatic. Just deploy the trigger on the joystick,” Rossiter said. 

“We've got incoming,” Addams said. 

“Emma let go now! You two, open fire!” The Doctor shouted and I yanked my hand off the lever and the Doctor pulled up and skimmed along the ocean, dodging the missiles. I gripped the back of the Doctor’s chair to steady myself as we swung back and forth while Rossiter and Wilf shot at the missiles. 

“Oh, my word!” Rossiter cried. 

“Whoa. Whoa!” Wilf said 

“Open fire! Come on, Wilf!” The Doctor shouted. 

“Whoo! Oh, I wish Donna could see me now,” Wilf cried as he shot down a missile. 

“This may be the most terrifying thing we’ve ever done,” I said, and the Doctor laughed wildly. 

“And there's more. Sixteen of them. Oh, and another sixteen,” Addams said. 

“Very helpful,” I called. 

“Then get on the rear gun lasers! You two, open fire! Now!” The Doctor shouted. 

“No, you don't!” The Doctor said as he ducked the ship below a very close missile and Wilf, Rossiter and Addams kept up the firing squad. 

“Come on!” Wilf was starting to sound like he was having fun. 

“Come on! Fire!” I threw my arm up in front of my face as the front window shattered in towards us from the residual explosion of a missile. 

“Lock the navigation,” the Doctor ordered, and Addams looked at him in confusion. 

“Onto what?” She asked. 

“England. The Naismith mansion,” the Doctor said, and his arm flew out to cover my head as another flurry of glass spun around us, though I wasn’t sure where it came from. 

“Is your plan just to make sure the Master burns through all his missiles before we get there?” I asked from where I was ducked down slightly behind the chair. 

“It’s not my worst plan,” the Doctor said, and I could hear the slight pout in his voice. 

“Well that’s true,” I said with a laugh. 

“Destination?” The Doctor asked Addams. 

“Fifty klicks and closing. We've locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though. Doctor? We are going to stop?” Addams asked as the mansion started to loom over us as we rapidly approached it. 

“Doctor? Doctor, you said you were going to die,” Wilf said, and Addams spun to look at me in horror. 

“He said what?” She demanded and I sighed, while wondering if I had time to explain and decided that I definitely did not. 

“But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?” Wilf asked and I flicked my gaze to the Doctor to see what he was going to say in response to that. 

“Emma come here,” the Doctor ordered with a hand outstretched and I grabbed hold of it. 

“What do you need?” I asked and he looked at me as our fingers linked together and for a moment the world slid away, and it was just the two of us. 

“You. I need you with me Emma. I’m being selfish and I’m not leaving you behind,” he said. 

“Sounds like the best plan you’ve had all day,” I said with a smile. The Doctor smiled at me as well before he pulled the spaceship's nose up at the last moment, before he opened a hatch in the floor and pulled Wilf’s gun out of his pocket as he squeezed my hand and we jumped down through the glass dome. He forced me into an awkward tuck and roll manoeuvre as we landed harshly on the marble floor. I heard the gun go skittering away from us slightly. 

“That was fun,” I said stupidly as the Doctor groaned from next to me though I couldn’t quite tell if it was from pain or my comment. I looked up at the Gate and saw that it had changed into a white space with two raised steps just as five Time Lords walked through. 

“My Lord Doctor. My Lord Master. We are gathered for the end,” one of the Time Lords proclaimed.


	38. Chapter 37

“Listen to me. You can't!” The Doctor said as he pushed himself up into a kneeling position. I took a deep breath and followed suit. 

“It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child,” Rassilon said as he looked down at the Master. I had suddenly remembered his name from when the Doctor had told me a few more details about the Time War. 

“Oh, he's not saving you. Don't you realise what he's doing?” The Doctor asked. 

“Hey, no, hey! That's mine. Hush. Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mister President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look as me,” The Master said and Rassilon held up a hand that was encased in a metal gauntlet that glowed before everyone of the Master’s duplicate’s heads went back to the blurring thing they were doing before they changed. 

“No, no, don't. No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don't!” The Master said and everyone snapped back to themselves and I released a small exhale of relief. 

“On your knees, mankind,” Rassilon ordered as he looked around the room. 

“I’m going to pass thank you,” I said as everyone else knelt even though I was already on my hands and knees, and the Doctor shot me a wild look like he really didn’t want me to draw attention to myself. 

“No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation. I still saved you. Don't forget that,” the Master said, and he really sounded like a petulant child now. 

“The approach begins,” Rassilon said and the world started to shake, and I slid my hand over to the Doctor’s and squeezed his fingers tightly in support. 

“Approach of what?” The Master asked and I rolled my eyes. 

“Something is returning. Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something,” the Doctor snapped. 

“What is it?” The Master asked and I rolled my eyes again because if he hadn’t put together a general idea then he was as bone stupid as the Doctor had claimed earlier. 

“They're not just bringing back the species. It's Gallifrey. Right here, right now.” Suddenly there was a red light shining through the windows. 

“Oh, this is incredibly not good,” I said, because I’d known that they were going to bring back Gallifrey, but not here right on top of Earth. People who had previously been kneeling started running from the room. 

“But I did this. I get the credit. I'm on your side,” The Master said and out of the corner of my eye I saw Wilf push his way through the crowd into the room. 

“Come on, get out of the way. Get out of the way! Doctor?” Wilf called over everyone’s panicked shouts and the hammering of the technician on the door of his glass booth in the radiation chamber. 

“Help me, please. Somebody, please,” the technician begged, and Wilf changed his path towards him. 

“All right! I've got you, mate. I've got you,” Wilf said. 

“Wilf, don't. Don't!” The Doctor cried. I shifted my weight in a useless attempt to stop Wilf, but he unlocked the other booth before I could move more than two steps. 

“I've got you. Come on. Go on.” The free technician ran for it and I swore intensely under my breath. There was no way I could let Wilf get irradiated, even if it meant my death. 

“But this is fantastic, isn't it? The Time Lords restored,” the Master said with a hint of awe in his voice. 

“When was the last time you got along with your fellow Time Lords?” I snapped before I could think better of it. 

“You weren't there in the final days of the War. You never saw what was born. But if the Timelock is broken, then everything's coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-have-been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell. And that's what you've opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending,” the Doctor said, and I shuddered. The Doctor had once said that every moment of time had been burning and while he’d given me a few more details they still hadn’t been as in depth as everything he’d just shared. 

“My kind of world,” the Master said. 

“Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can't survive that,” the Doctor said. 

“We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart,” Rassilon said and I blinked at him in shock for a few seconds. I noticed the Master’s awe fall off his face for the first time as the implication hit him. 

“I take back every time I have ever said I hated your plans Doctor. This is officially the worst plan I have ever heard,” I said. 

“That's suicide,” the Master said. 

“We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be,” Rassilon said. 

“The worst plan ever somehow gets worse,” I said, mostly to myself because the Doctor was looking at the Master with a beseeching look. 

“You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them,” the Doctor said. 

“Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory,” the Master said. 

“You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more.” 

“Thank you for proving that you are the huge snobs I always thought you were,” I said as I pushed myself up from the ground with strength that I didn’t know I still had, planted my feet and stared at Rassilon and he looked at me in condescending confusion. 

“Who are you?” 

“Doesn’t really matter does it? The only thing you need to know is that I am a human and that I am not just going to let you use Earth as a stepping stone for the annihilation of the universe. Look at you Lord President, running away from a war you started that you can’t win. Is that why Time Lords didn’t interfere? You couldn’t handle the consequences? And, hilariously enough, the reason why the Doctor did what he did never even crossed your mind.” I paused to suck in a deep breath and gave them a nasty grin. “He did it for us. He burned you alive for all those puny, worthless species that you spent thousands of years looking down on.” 

“And what do you plan to do against us?” Rassilon asked and I smiled. 

“Remind the Doctor what he’s fighting for,” I said and stepped to the side to reveal the Doctor plant his feet on the ground with his gun pointed at Rassilon. 

“Well said Emma,” the Doctor said, and I smiled. 

“I had to learn something from you, didn’t I?” I teased as I reached down and linked my fingers with his free hand. If he thought I was going to leave him on his own right now he was sorely mistaken. Besides he’d wanted me here. 

“Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one,” Rassilon said. 

“But he's the President. Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours,” the Master said, and the Doctor turned to point the gun at the Master. 

“He's to blame, not me. Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it,” the Master taunted and the Doctor turned again to aim at Rassilon. 

“Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the link. Kill him!” The Master cried. 

“The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?” Rassilon asked and I arched up on my toes so that I could whisper in the Doctor’s ear. 

“Look around. Look around, be the Doctor and find another way. And if you can’t, then I’m here with you no matter what.” I whispered and I saw a woman behind Rassilon lower her hands and look over the Doctor’s shoulder. He turned again to face the Master immediately. 

“Get out of the way,” The Doctor ordered. The Master moved and the Doctor shot the white point star diamond in its weird gizmo thing that I made a mental note to ask about later. The diamond and its holder thing exploded, and the Time Lords started to get sucked away one by one. 

“The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell,” the Doctor said. 

“You'll die with me, Doctor,” Rassilon announced. 

“I know,” the Doctor said. 

“We’ll see about that,” I muttered as Rassilon raised his gauntlet and the Doctor and I started a weird power struggle as I tried to step in front of him and he tried to stop me from doing so. 

“Get out of the way,” the Master ordered. The Doctor pulled me back out of the way with him and the Master attacked Rassilon with his energy. 

“You did this to me! All of my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four!” Rassilon fell to his knees and the Time Lords and the Master disappeared in a light so bright that I couldn’t see anything for a few moments. When I blinked the world back into focus, I realized that the red light that was Gallifrey had dissipated and I could hear people shouting in relief in the streets. 

“Wow this has been the weirdest day of my life,” I said as the Doctor scooped me up in his arms and spun me around in delight. 

“I'm alive. I've-- There was-- I'm still alive,” the Doctor said before the hope growing in his eyes was squashed by the sound of sixteen knocks in groups of four. 

“They gone, then? Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?” Wilf asked as we both looked over at Wilf, still in the glass booth. 

“Yeah,” the Doctor said softly as he set me down on the floor again and slowly linked his fingers with mine again. 

“Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise,” Wilf said over the mechanical groaning that was emanating out of the radiation chamber. 

“Just a bit,” I said distantly as I tried to make sure that I had a tiny bit of a better idea as to how I was going to change this moment. 

“The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running. It's gone into overload,” the Doctor explained his voice gone flat and distant, and I swallowed carefully. He’d given up hope, and it was making me nervous because I’d never really seen him like this before. 

“And that's bad, is it?” Wilf asked. 

“No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing,” the Doctor said sarcastically, and I nudged him. 

“Don’t be mean,” I said as firmly as I could manage which wasn’t very firm at all. 

“Oh. Well, you'd better let me out, then,” Wilf said innocently. 

“Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods. Even this would set it off.” The Doctor lifted the sonic screwdriver with his free hand and wiggled it around slightly. 

“I'm sorry,” Wilf said. 

“Sure,” the Doctor said, and I nudged him again though I couldn’t quite get out the words to chastise him again. 

“Look, just leave me.” 

“Okay, right then, I will. Because you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes. Because that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time,” the Doctor said, and I could tell that he was trying to keep the tears out of his voice. 

“No really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time.” I squeezed my eyes shut as I slipped my free hand into my pocket and pulled out the taser that Ianto had given me back with the Weeping Angels while making sure that the Doctor couldn’t see it. I’d picked it up after the Doctor and I had gone back to the TARDIS after the Master had been kidnapped in anticipation of this plan. 

“Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair! Oh. Oh. I've lived too long,” the Doctor said with a sigh and lifted my hand to press a lingering kiss to the back of my hand. I could tell that was his way of saying goodbye to me and it took all of my power to not let the panic well up. 

“No. No, no, please, please don't. No, don't! Please don't! Please!” Wilf begged as the Doctor dropped my hand and took a few steps forward. I shoved the taser into the middle of the Doctor’s back and he stiffened, probably mostly in shock as Ianto had told me it didn’t hurt and I’d done a few tests myself, before he fell to the ground with his eyes closed. I knelt next to him and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. 

“No. No, no Emma I won’t let you die for me either,” Wilf said as I approached the radiation chamber. I sent him the best reassuring smile I could. 

“Wilf, I need you to trust me. Can you please trust me?” I asked and he nodded. 

“Yes, but what about the Doctor?” He asked as I pulled open the door on the other booth and stepped in. 

“Just knocked out. Which button do I need to push to let you out?” I asked and Wilf pointed at his control panel. I pushed down on the button and Wilf stepped out. I sucked in a shaky breath and smiled at Wilf again. 

“If this doesn’t work, I need you to tell the Doctor that I’m sorry, but that I don’t regret anything okay?” I asked. Wilf nodded. 

“What are you doing?” He asked and I laughed as I turned the taser towards my stomach. 

“Honestly I’m making it up as I go,” I said as I pushed on the button and plunged the world into darkness just as the alarms started to go off. 

After all, I had a pretty good idea that getting irradiated would be very painful and I would rather not experience that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Tenth Doctor will Return in One Week in Will Against Fate!
> 
> (Will Against Fate will be posted as it's own separate one shot as part of the Prolonged Promises Series. So keep your eyes open for it!)


End file.
